Posted: Monday, 08 February 2010 10:40AM
Times Shamrock Only Makes It Worse
Steve Corbett Reporting
Monday, February 08, 2010
When good newspapers make mistakes, good newspaper people try to fix the errors as quickly as possible.
Good newspaper people never make it worse.
But when newspaper people fail to correct a false story or compound the problem with more bad information, readers lose faith. Reckless disregard for the truth is one big reason why countless people no longer believe what they read in the paper.
That’s why I’m astounded that representatives of Times Shamrock Communications persist in not only defending but fostering a false story written about me in two weekly publications published by the Scranton-based media corporation.
The “barbed wire” column, written by “Rube Lomax,” reports a “rumor” about me “allegedly” trying to cut a deal with FOX for a nationally syndicated radio show.
The story is false.
As soon as I read the story Thursday in this week’s edition of “Diamond City” and “Electric City,” I went to Entercom Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Vice President/General Manager Ryan Flynn and told him the story was not true. I worried that he might think I am trying to cut a deal behind his back and find a way out of my contract and the commitment I have made to my community. I worried that he might think less of me the next time we negotiate my job if a false rumor plants a seed of doubt about my character.
I also worried that advertisers and listeners might not trust me anymore if they thought I was using the area as a stepping stone to another job. I worried that they, too, might doubt my allegiance to Northeastern Pennsylvania and our work together to make it better.
Last Friday morning I called a Times Shamrock executive and left him a message about the false story that is published online and in print. I asked if he would remove the false story from the Website. I asked that he call me to talk and thanked him for his help.
The executive called me this morning at home and left me a message. He said he was out of town Friday and heard something about the problem and would look into it.
Also on Friday, the editor who approved the false story appeared on “Corbett” to defend publishing the malicious gossip. He said he would not retract the untrue story in the next edition. He said he would only reprint the column I wrote about the false story on this site Friday if I paid advertising money to so so. He refused to say he was sorry for publishing a fictitious story that might damage my reputation and negatively impact the way some people see me.
You can listen to the interview with the editor on this website.
This morning, when I called “The Morning News with Nancy and Kevin” as I do every morning to talk about my afternoon show, I spoke on the air with guest co-host Chris Kelly, another Times Shamrock editor.
I explained that I had no intention of bringing up the Rube Lomax column and putting Kelly in an awkward position over a story he apparently had nothing to do with. But since he made earlier statements on the show about me, I felt obligated to clear up yet erroneous insinuation from another Times Shamrock employee.
Kelly and Kevin were talking about whether good newspapers should use fake names for columns.
The Times Tribune, where Kelly works, publishes a Saturday column written by a political reporter who uses a pseudonym for the column. A year or so ago, the reporter started to identify himself at the end of the column – the first time somebody who wrote the column has done so in more than 100 years.
On my Friday show I said that the addition of the writer’s real name only appeared after I complained on the phone about the matter with the managing editor. Kelly called my statement “ludicrous.” I asked Kelly if he had spoken to the managing editor to see if what I said was true. Kelly said he had not.
Kelly also said on the air that I once had lunch with the woman who writes the Rube Lomax column. That, too, is false, a fact I told my wife when she expressed surprise at the statement.
Kelly made the search for truth worse instead of better.
I instructed Kelly to talk with the editor and invited him to join me on the air when he does.
On Friday when I spoke on “Corbett” with the editor who approved the false Rube Lomax column about me, I asked him to identify the real identity of the writer whose column appears weekly under a pseudonym. Even though I know the identity of the woman who regularly writes the column, I felt that I should not name her until either she or one of her bosses confirms that she wrote the column in question. Just as the rules of fundamental journalism required the writer to check with me to see if the untrue FOX rumor was true or false, I needed to check to make sure who wrote the column.
But the editor refused to identify the writer he said Times Shamrock trusts.
I only wanted to be accurate. I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s good name. You’d think that other people in the press would want the same.
Why make it worse instead of better?
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