Local oops update
Fellow blogger #9 has been covering the WATE/Steve Hall thing diligently (here and here). It’s important to point out that Michael Silence notes:
I’ve seen the press release. It came out a couple of weeks ago from Register of Deeds Steve Hall. It was short and simple and said RofD Hall was not running and was not to be confused with Councilman Hall. I’m home under the weather and don’t have a copy of it. But call the RofD office and they’ll fax or e-mail you a copy of it.
Update: And Betty Bean has much more.
Final Update: I have it on good authority that this entire incident was the result of an error. I do not think there was any nefariousness on the part of anyone. I can’t comment further.
November 3rd, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Uncle, you have a typo. Should be Steve Hall. [Edited because Uncle is stupid]
November 3rd, 2005 at 12:09 pm
Thanks. Edited your comment, btw, for personal reasons. No offense meant. And check your email.
November 3rd, 2005 at 3:40 pm
blogger roommate fight….woot.
November 3rd, 2005 at 3:41 pm
Nah, there’s no fight.
November 3rd, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Name your source or go directly to jail and do not pass go!
But seriously, I don’t know which is worse. A setup job, or an intern/idiot/whatever researching the archives with reading comprehension problems, or the newsbot reader he/she handed it to who read it on the air without questioning it (sheesh, do they not even hear the news about the election they’ve been reading to us for the last month or so as they read it to us?), or a news “director” who thinks Steve Hall was an “unknown write-in” candidate. This is really bad for WATE no matter which way you look at it.
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:42 pm
I concur that it’s bad for them. But it is not intentional. Someone screwed up.
November 4th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
There comes a point where a mistake is just too stupid to be dismissed as unintentional. A news director who thinks an incumbent councilman is a write-in candidate is not working diligently to bring accurate news, subject to occasional human errors. A news staffer who reads an old press release clarifying that Register of Deeds Steve Hall is not the same person as City Councilman Steve Hall and comes away thinking someone has dropped out of an election at the last minute is not working diligently to bring accurate news, subject to occasional human errors.
If you can not demonstrate basic competency, your intentions are irrelevant. Hiring helpless morons who think of press releases as reliable sources is prima facie evidence of bad intentions, not necessarily in this particular instance, but in the broader context of WATE’s commitment to accuracy.