Email - Michael.Theis@Patch.com
Phone - 540-687-0467 Hometown - College Park, Md. Birthday - July 7, 1983 Bio - Michael Theis manages and oversees the coverage efforts of Hyattsville Patch. His professional career in news goes back to 2005 when he took a job as a studio cameraman at his local NBC affiliate in Hagerstown, Md. Since then, Michael has worked as a videographer covering Capitol Hill, a photographer for the Frederick News-Post in Frederick, Md., as a multi-media journalist for the Shepherdstown Chronicle in Shepherdstown, W.Va. Most recently, Michael worked as the local editor for Fredericksburg Patch in Fredericksburg, Va. Our 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 us to inject our beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that our beliefs are on the record will cause us 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 - My political beliefs are rather nuanced, but they tend to fall on the liberal side of social issues like gay marriage and reproductive rights and conservative on issues like gun control and fiscal responsibility. I do not cast a ballot in elections which I am covering closely.  Religion - I am decidedly non-religious, however I was raised in a deeply Catholic household. My experiences and the lessons taught to me in the Catholic Church form the basis of my moral worldview and inform my political leanings on a number of social justice issues.