Posted on 01/06/2011 3:36:28 AM PST by marktwain
UPDATE: The column has reappeared with no explanation or acknowledgments.
A “Riding Shotgun “ opinion column by writer Rachel Stewart in which she related how seeing openly armed patrons in Texas diners left her “spellbound and queasy” is no longer accessible on the Taranaki Daily News website. Clicking on the link where the piece formerly resided results in a “Not Found” error message. [UPDATE: The piece has now returned with no acknowledgement of any controversy.]
This follows publication of my Gun Rights Examiner column pointing out that open carry is not permitted under Texas law, as well as email inquiries to the paper by me and others, none of which, to my knowledge, have been answered.
Because I do not see a retraction and apology to notify their readers, I have followed up with this request:
I'd like to give my readers an update. Do you have a link to a retraction and apology, and would you care to make a for-the-record statement about what happened and what you are doing to prevent future fabrications/let-downs of the public trust?
The piece has also disappeared from Ms. Stewart’s index page, where it looks like she posts every two weeks on Mondays, meaning, if she has not been suspended or canned, her next column should appear on Jan. 10. We’ll see if it does, and if she has anything to say for herself about this. [UPDATE: Again, the linkage has reappeared with no word from the paper on why it was temporarily taken down.]
Lest it seem like following up on this is beating a dead horse, I’ll point out this is not the first time retractions have followed exposure of journalistic malpractice publicized in this column. In August, I challenged the Akron Beacon Journal for “spreading the Violence Policy Center’s machine gun confusion” by incorrectly reporting a semi-automatic pistol was a “submachinegun,” resulting in the paper printing a correction. In the same column I also related a similar reporting error that had been subsequently corrected in the Yuma Sun after firearms designer Len Savage called them on their error.
Similarly, less than two weeks ago, we discussed the El Paso Times lowering that bar to new depths, and while their forced correction was hardly satisfying, at least resulting protests compelled them to make one.
It’s important that the Taranaki Daily News also publicly address the blatant falsehood they published, because if they simply remove it and say nothing, most of their readers will never know their trust has been abused.
A comment left by “Henny Youngman” (great screen name) under my Stewart rebuttal points to a specific incident indicative of a wider issue, one unfortunately we in the gun rights advocacy movement see all too often:
I think we've just discovered what happened to Janet Cooke!
Cooke, for those of you unfamiliar with the name, was a “journalist” for The Washington Post (incidentally, a rabidly anti-gun newspaper). She was a Pulitzer Prize winner. And the story she won it for was a "fabrication". That's what people who want to diminish the seriousness of complete ethical abandonment call a "lie."
The response from her managing editor, Bob Woodward of “All the President’s Men” fame, who had submitted her story for prize consideration?
I think that the decision to nominate the story for a Pulitzer is of minimal consequence. I also think that it won is of little consequence. It is a brilliant story—fake and fraud that it is. It would be absurd for me or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes.
Good grief--and this from one of their "top men."
Yeah, and it would be absurd for us to expect that of you, Bob. Which is why it’s incumbent on those of us who aren’t “Authorized Journalists” to heed Patrick Henry and apply his “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty” admonition to every hit piece where we see ignorance, an agenda, and outright...uh...fabrications.
And then do what we can to make guilty media parties eat their words in as public and noisy a manner as possible, to make up for the reality that their readerships and audiences are often in the millions, and their voices can reach so many more people than ours.
Being caught every time you lie is not the same as “being made honest”. Other than that one quibble, I agree.
Maybe Rachel was just *confused*. In that she wasn't really in Texas, but in Kennesaw, Ga., where it's 'mandated by law'(1) for law abiding citizens to openly carry a sidearm in town.
After all, it could happen to anyone of Rachel's 'class'(2). Texas? - Georgia? .... hey, they all look alike; low-brow rednecks with a funny accent.
(1) There are legal exceptions to the 'mandate'.
(2) Snotty elitist know-it-all liberal.
Interestingly enough, just this morning, my time, I received a follow-up email from Mr. Pilott regarding my email. It was very incoherent and hard to understand exactly what he was trying to say.
Since it contains nothing of real substance I will share it:
Dear XXX,
I note you were one of a handful of people in the US to send complaining emails to the Taranaki
Daily News about Rachel Stewart's latest column. I also note some have written what you would
probably term ``cheap-shot'' postings on sites in the US.
My initial plan was to ignore all the emails sent to me because so many were no more than vitriolic
nonsense from conspiracy theorists and people with an inflated view of their own importance.
However, some email were quite genuine and given the possibility some of the postings may eventually gain some unwarranted credibility, I have changed my mind.
Ms Stewart spends quite a bit of time in the US, and frequently sees firearms in Texan diners.
Some are worn by police, others are worn by members of the public who have attempted, without
success to keep them hidden from view at all times. She does not need a lesson on the respective
laws pertaining to firearms.
Regards
Roy
I replied to Mr. Pilott that I regarded his email as a sterling example of the level to which journalism and writing has descended.
P.S. - I do not live in the U.S.A. A fact which is clearly noted in the signature section of my emails.
I live in TX, and I wrote him, too.
Ministry of Truth bookmark.
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