Mitchell, SD got the national media treatment today. I'm not posting the link because the author of the article tweeted condescendingly less than a week ago about locals saying she wasn't invited to town to start “poking (her) nose into everybody’s business."

Of course journalists don't need to have express permission to go somewhere, or ask questions, or cover a public meeting. But no one, not even journalists, are entitled to people's trust.

SD officials are systematically discrediting journalists. The local press corps is small, and they're battling mistrust in their communities. National media has a habit with rural America of only parachuting in when something bad is happening, writing disaster porn, then leaving.

And lest we forget: We're in the middle of a pandemic. It's interesting the author notes that people in Mitchell weren't masking because they trusted each other. Don't you think that logic goes in the reverse, that they would be scared of outsiders while their own are dying?

Anyway maybe the lesson here is keep your tweets to yourself, enjoy your comped meals while you're in town and remember that real people live there even after you leave.