Last week, I was the first to tell you that a state auditor general's report has taken the Bangor Area School Board to task for paying former Superintendent Pat Mulroy $142,000 for "consulting" services that were never performed. The Morning Call is the last local news outlet to chime in on that story. Despite having several other news sources to review, it still managed to get its facts wrong. This is hardly the "fair" and "thorough" news coverage for which the Morning Call's Bill White takes credit.
According to the story, "Then-school board member Ron Angle questioned Mulroy's leadership during a public meeting and urged the board to make a change." That's untrue. Angle was not a member of the Board at the time. He did question her leadership, but did so as a private citizen. Had this story been "thorough," that mistake would have been avoided.
The story, as written, is also unfair. It creates the false impression in the mind of readers that Angle was on the Board when the deal was made to dump Mulroy. Ron gets into enough trouble on his own and needs no help from The Morning Call.
Now I don't mind when a news outlet picks up on a story that first appears here and fails to credit me. To me, the reward is seeing the story. But I do mind when the paper waxes on about what a good job it does, and then manages to mangle a story handed to it on a silver platter.
I might call it "hogwash." It certainly appears as though "the paper has been asleep at the switch or [is] deliberately turning a blind eye."
Will there be a clarification? I won't hold my breath.
Updated 10:15 am: To its credit, The Morning Call has changed its story to indicate that Angle was a former school board member at the time that he complained about Mulroy.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Wednesday, September 23, 2015
11 comments:
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And the former President of the Bangor School Board resigned why? Lol......
ReplyDeleteuh oh, pet of the week versus the poop king
ReplyDeleteThou shalt not step on one of Bernie's mancrushes toes.
ReplyDeleteDid they get that story correct regarding yet another disbarred lawyer stealing money from a client?
ReplyDelete6:42 and 8:00
ReplyDeleteYou obviously dislike Bernie Ohare but you obviously love his reporting and his informational Blog. You're always commenting on it. It is an "Award Winning Blog" recognized by his peers in journalism. What have you ever done with your life,,,,you poor excuse for human beings. Everyone screws up somewhere Bernie. You paid your dues. Keep up the good work. You have a lot more friends than you realize.
When people have nothing to say, they resort to anonymous personal attacks. They do not diminish me, but do diminish these anonymous cowards.
ReplyDeleteBernie's just jealous because The Call was the first media outlet to report that the PPL Center is really, really big and expensive.
ReplyDeleteOh wait: everyone already knew that, too.
Really Bernie? You need to defend your buddy Ron under the guise of poor journalism? THAT diminishes you. Especially when Angle is a blow hard who likes controversy and his name in the paper. I think he can take care of himself.
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with Ron and everything to do with a newspaper that has just claimed it is thorough and fair and dismissed all criticism of it as "hogwash." It was the last news outlet to write about Mulroy, and despite having numerous other stories on this exact topic, managed to mangle its facts, and in a way that is unfair to Ron. It makes no difference what you think of Angle.
ReplyDeleteMention Ron Angle's name, and the haters line up 10 deep, like crap in a clogged sewer pipe.
ReplyDeleteThe morning call is no longer a local newspaper. It has become a national paper with little regard to local news. I remember the day when you could pick up the paper on a Saturday morning and read about all the local football games. An example is the Beca/Liberty football game. A big City game and NOTHING in the paper the next day. I like High school sports and enjoy reading about all the schools. Also unless there is some kind of scandal or negative press it is not worth the space to put positive stories about local events in the Call. I will no longer renew with the call and will switch to the express which is a smaller paper but they do a much better job on local sports and news.
ReplyDelete