[Vision2020] Daily News Got It Wrong

[keely emerinemix]

Because I've canceled my subscription to the Daily News, and not for the first time, I didn't read the article Joe refers to.  

One of the reasons I don't subscribe to the DN is because its coverage on many issues involving our town has been lacking, biased, and poorly written -- all symptomatic of a disregard for simple, classic journalism.  I know a bit about print journalism and reporting, and I can say with some measure of expertise and experience that its coverage of Wilson, etc., has been particularly egregious on all three points.

But if the paper suggested that "community members" who oppose Wilson's work and words vandalized ("took to" vandalizing) Christ Church-owned businesses and property, without a shred of evidence demonstrating, unequivocally and with full attribution, three things, it's become more of an affront to print journalism than usual.  Those three things are simple, Journalism 101-type stuff:  Did vandalism actually happen?  Did the vandal have any agenda whatsoever?  And was that person linked to others, like myself, who have publicly spoken out against Wilson?  

Answer those questions, with evidence and attribution, and you might be on to something.  But for the DN to toss that out without the building blocks of true journalism -- accuracy, evidence, attribution, etc. -- is just so much heaving rocks through the windows, so to speak, of its readership.  I don't expect all readers to notice the fault, but I do expect those who commit it to acknowledge that they're in the wrong field.

Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com




> Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 08:00:38 -0800
> From: thansen at moscow.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Daily News Got It Wrong
> 
> Courtesy of today's (January 5, 2010) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with
> thanks to Joe Campbell.
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Daily News got it wrong
> 
> The paper's account of Moscow's recent history (Jan. 2 & 3) was less than
> fully accurate.
> 
> For instance, in discussing Doug Wilson's "Southern Slavery: As it Was,"
> the paper claims "community members took to vandalizing businesses owned
> by people associated with Christ Church and Wilson" due to controversy
> over the book.
> 
> There is not one instance where it was discovered that a community member
> vandalized "businesses owned by people associated with Christ Church." The
> only confirmed case of "vandalism" was an offensive comment written in
> chalk on public property in Friendship Square. And no one knows who did
> that. The Daily News account is irresponsible in the same way that it
> would be irresponsible for the Daily News to speculate that members of
> Christ Church vandalized the atheist billboard on U.S. Highway 95.
> 
> Also, the controversy about Wilson's book was not merely ideological. Some
> of the controversy was because the book was plagiarized.
> 
> Lastly, the paper writes that NSA "had been on South Main Street since
> 2002, but changes to city law required the school - and other educational
> institutions - to obtain a conditional use permit to operate in the
> downtown business district."
> 
> But if you look at the law in question, the change was made "to allow
> schools, commercial schools and/or educational institutions by conditional
> use permit in certain commercial and special zoning districts."
> 
> NSA began in a residential neighborhood, in violation of the city zoning
> code. It was duly and clearly informed of its violation. It moved
> downtown, first to one location near Main Street and then to its current
> location. Each time its new location violated city code and each time NSA
> was duly informed. The change in law allowed NSA to remain downtown,
> contrary to the city code. It was not a burden but a gift from the city to
> NSA.
> 
> Joseph Keim Campbell
> Moscow
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Thanks, Joe.
> 
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> “I’ll just speak for our church, in Christ Church. If I found out that a
> member of our church or a church officer was lying to non-believers in the
> community, as a way to get by or protect themself or protect his
> reputation, yes, he’d be disciplined.”
> 
> - Doug Wilson (January 31, 2007)
> http://www.tomandrodna.com/protest/Doug_Wilson_Liers_013107.mp3
> 
> 
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
>                http://www.fsr.net                       
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222984/direct/01/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20100105/9ff707b3/attachment.html