Telling what I can

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A lot of eyes, more than usual, have been looking at me in the past couple of weeks.

Hasn't bothered me. Comes with the territory.

But, all these eyes are also attached to people who also bring questions. A lot of 'em.

I have not answered a lot of the questions. Chances are, I never will.

To briefly explain, our county Sheriff resigned this week. Other media outlets have gone wild reporting rumors. They have, no surprise there, gotten parts of the story wrong. By reporting the rumors they have also spread outright lies.

This is not surprising. A major media outlet in this area, which shall go unnamed, specializes in spreading lies. This outlet has also banned me from being in their stories.

Image at left cutline: Their version of the truth.

And no, I am not kidding about their lies and being banned. This media outlet has NEVER gotten a story about my community 100 percent correct. Never.

Being banned from a media sources that specializes in lies is a badge of honor as far as I'm concerned.

Back to the topic du jour:

That I will probably never tell the entire and the complete story about the situation here is not unusual. That is the Standard Operating Procedure for all media anyway.

Image at right cutline: Well, maybe not everything unless you believe what you see on TV.

You, the information consuming public, do not have the patience, time or understanding to process the entire story. This is not an insult. It's merely a simple fact.

I reference the recent federal budget debacle. How much do you really and truly know about the federal budget and how the federal government spends money? Do you know how much is spent annual by the federal folks on paperclips? Do you want to know?

That is one area of ignorance. Another area is when people like, journalists, don't tell you everything we know despite you seriously wanting to know this information.

There's a couple of reasons for that.

Ethical, responsible and honest journalists will not use anonymous sources. We will not report rumors as facts, as the abovementioned media outlet does regularly.

Anonymous sources, as I have stated many times, is a great way for journalists to lie and make up information and you never know the difference.

If you or your family is the subject of a major news story, you will greatly appreciate me not publishing rumors in the place of facts. Think about that next time you want to complain I'm not telling you everything.

It may very well be the rumors are true. But unless I can get an authoritative source to confirm the rumor or tell me the information, it's not gonna be published. You will appreciate that as well if you are ever the subject of a major news story.

Another reason journalists don't tell you everything is, we don't want to. Seriously. Just because we know something you may want to know doesn't mean we're going to tell you. We make a judgment call. Is the news value of the information worth the pain and suffering it will cause?

Need an example? I don't report on suicides, unless it is spectacularly public. Someone is in so much pain that they end their life privately, that's none of your business as far as I'm concerned. They jump off the clock tower at the courthouse, OK, I'm gonna write that one.

Another? I don't give crime victim names unless the person is dead (murder) or gives me permission to do so OR they go public of their own volition. Our community has a long history of retaliation for those who go public.

Sometimes, journalists don't tell you everything because our information is off the record. We can, like some reporters who tell lies, use anonymous sources. Off the record information is just that.

Sometimes that OTR information is given confidentially to help us research a story and get publishable information. Frequently that is the case. Sometimes we manage to get the OTR information on the record, in which case it can be published subject to the abovementioned provisos.

OTR information is taken that way for a variety of reasons. Protecting the source is the far and way most common reason.

Lots of people come to me to talk OTR. I've met sources in all kinds of places. They do this in confidence that I will not disclose who they are. That they place such trust in me humbles me. Sure, other people will badger me to try and find out who told me what. Over the years I have perfected a poker face and a poker attitude.

And finally, every once in a while I get information which I can't tell because if I did, I could be arrested. Yes huh.

For many years, I kept notebooks packed with my notes. One day I looked at the pile and realized there was enough information in there to ruin a whole lot of people. I burned the notes. Not long after that, some of my notes were subpoenaed for a court case. These days, I destroy my notes pretty quickly. Can't hand over what doesn't exist. Since this is a now a routine practice, I also can be charged with doing something to avoid a court order.