Email: john.mckay@patch.com
Phone: 810-986-9481
Hometown: Fenton
Residence: Plymouth Township 
Birthday: Sept. 21

Bio:

John McKay has served as editor of Plymouth Patch since May 2011 and Canton Patch since January 2012.

John came to Plymouth in 2011 after two years of living and working in Port Huron, where he served as a copy editor, paginator and blogger for the Times Herald (Gannett). He immediately fell in love with the surrounding community, and can often be seen in Plymouth's historic Old Village or in Kellogg Park with his dog, Sammy.

A lifelong Michigander, John was raised in Fenton and is a graduate of Fenton High School. John cut his teeth as a reporter working for the Tri-County Times, one of the state's largest semiweekly newspapers, where he covered the Fenton and Linden school districts, as well as Fenton, Fenton Township, Holly, Linden, Rose Township and Tyrone Township government and community affairs.

John began his career in journalism in high school with a startup web magazine that he managed for eight years with a staff of writers based throughout the U.S.

John was part of the University of Michigan-Flint's inaugural journalism class and worked as managing editor of the Michigan Times, its student newspaper, while also freelancing for the Flint Journal, AMP (American Music Press) Magazine, Law of Inertia Magazine, Big Wheel Magazine and the Pit Monthly throughout his time in college.

John's incisive reporting and willingness to embrace new media and multimedia reporting at his college newspaper led to him receiving the Michigan Press Association's (MPA) first-place Journalist of the Year award in 2008.

He's also received a variety of MPA honors for columnist, video production, reviews and sports features at both the college and professional level.

If you see John around town in Plymouth or Canton, feel free to stop him to introduce yourself. You also can reach John at john.mckay@patch.com or (810) 986-9481. Follow him on Twitter at @PlymouthPatch or @CantonPatch.

Your Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics 
How would you describe your political beliefs? I tend to lean a fair amount to the left on a lot of fiscal and social issues. I consider myself a Democrat. When it comes to local elections, however, I realize party affiliation means far less than it does on the national stage, so my votes have tended to span both sides of the ballot. Naturally, I feel injecting my personal opinion into news stories would be inappropriate.

Religion
How religious would you consider yourself? Not religious.

Local Hot-Button Issues
What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? Education, economy and downtown developments.

Where do you stand on each of these issues? One thing I've noticed is parents in the Plymouth-Canton district take education very seriously. The current school board needs to continue to work together toward a common goal and not allow personal beliefs of ambitions interfere with district goals. I believe the school board has one full-time employee, its superintendent, and it should be able to trust the administration to manage teachers and students while enforcing policies set by the board.

As for downtown developments, if a balance can be struck between responsibly expanding while preserving the historic downtown character of Plymouth, I'm all for it.

On the economic front, Plymouth has historically weathered tough times, dating back to the 1950s when Daisy left town for Rogers, AR. The city and township both have strong business communities and it's important to think local first when shopping in order to preserve this aspect of the city and township.

In Canton, diversity is one of its greatest assets, providing a wealth of culture and educational opportunities within the township's borders.