The newspaper’s website runs a story about House Democrats launching an impeachment inquiry. 

The story is updated as new information is available and as federal, state and local newsmakers react.

In this case, the inquiry was launched.

The fact that it happened is factual, actual and real. 

Clearly, partisans may disagree with the inquiry itself, may think the reasons behind it are solely political or that the allegations have no merit on their face. 

Or a person commenting on Facebook may just hate Democrats and love the president, and if that is the case there is nothing wrong with stating it. 

There is nothing wrong with sharing an opinion or pointing out flaws in political or legal argumentation. 

Vigorous debate is healthy for an open and free society. 

Honest and fair-minded people learn from intelligent debate in a robust marketplace of ideas. 

Despite the proliferation of political polarization, news is still news and facts are still facts. 

Crying fake news every time you don’t like what is being reported is, itself, fake. 

If something is news, it is not fake. 

If something is fake, it is not news. 

Reporting on the facts that House Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have launched an impeachment inquiry based on allegations against the president is not passing a value judgment on the veracity of those allegations. It is simply a matter of reporting what happened. 

Clearly, there are media outlets that blend news and commentary on a regular basis, and it can be difficult to navigate between the straight news report and the analysis. 

But we do not do that. 

We do news, not driven, charged narratives in the news section of the newspaper. 

When we share an opinion, we make it clear that it is an opinion and we take great pains to separate those opinions from the reporting of the news. We do that in the printed edition of the newspaper by only placing opinion pieces — editorials, columns, cartoons and letters to the editor — on the Viewpoints and Opinions page of the newspaper. When those opinions are an editorial, the point of view of the newspaper, we clearly mark it “Our Opinion.” 

On the newspaper website, we place editorials and other commentary in the Opinions section and all editorials are under the header of EDITORIALS. We take those extra steps to make sure no one confuses our opinion and reported facts. 

Disagree with our opinions, our editorials, if they do not align with your ideology or personal beliefs. We wholeheartedly embrace diverse points of view and we vigorously defend your right to express your point of view, offering you space in our letters to the editor and guest columns sections of our Viewpoints and Opinion pages. 

Look, we are not arrogant enough to think we are always right or that our point of view is the only opinion that matters. In fact, we work hard to always give our critics the last say. We think anyone who is fair-minded will readily admit we consistently do that. 

Opinions are just that — opinions. They may not necessarily be right or wrong, they are just how a person, or an institution, sees something and everyone is entitled to have a point of view. 

But news is news, whether any of us like it or not. 

We unfortunately have to report on many things we do not like, including tragedies, accidents, homicides and violent crime. We don’t report on any of these things because we agree with it or because we like it. We report each of these things for one reason and one reason only: It’s the news. 

Not liking the news does not make it any less the news and certainly does not make it fake.