It’s interesting that five months after publishing the initial police press release, you’ve decided it’s time to defend your position (“In Defence of the Bearer of Bad Tidings,” Feb. 28).
Why not defend it from the outset when you first experienced the “wrath of family and friends?” Obviously, you are now trying to provide some damage control, in the event that legal action is brought against your paper.
I believe the conventional term for this is “covering your a-.”
Seems awfully convenient to distance yourself from law enforcement at this point–now that it’s become apparent this was a bogus charge. Yellow journalism has never been more clearly defined.
This case was dragged out for five months after the charge had been laid. What was the purpose of the four-month investigation prior to the arrest? Perhaps that’s just how long it takes to obtain a search warrant in Fort Frances when there is no probable cause for its issuance.
This wasn’t a situation where an individual was set free on a technicality–this case never even made it to trial! The prosecution simply didn’t have any evidence to proceed even though local media already had facilitated a verdict in the court of public sentiment.
Too bad Fort Frances doesn’t have some sort of newsgathering agency that could offer some insights as to why a witch-hunt of this nature was allowed to go on for nine months. Alas, I’ll just have to hope for a press release that explains it all.
If you’re simply going to allow the OPP to have space on your front page to post its press releases, at least be aware that these might not be objective. You defend yourself by saying you “just published the facts.” Do you think the OPP might have arranged those facts in a manner that would reflect poorly on an individual they were hoping to send to prison?
Why didn’t you write your own article and simply quote the police press release? Perhaps that would have been too much work or maybe you’re simply a puppet for local law enforcement. Either way, it’s not complimentary of your newspaper.
Next time you cut and paste someone else’s press release and try and pass it off as journalism, maybe you could have an impartial party take an objective look at it before you print it. You might save yourself and others a lot of grief.
And save your tears about the poor messenger. I’m not trying to shoot the messenger; I’m merely shooting holes in his credibility.
(Signed),
Greg Faragher
Shiloh, Ill.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
