Shoddy reporting, half-facts, untruths…oh this is fun! –

EDGAR CO. (ECWd) –

• Wordsmith – A person skilled in using words.
• Journalism – The activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information.
• Watchdog journalism – informs the public about goings-on in institutions and society, especially in circumstances where a significant portion of the public would demand changes in response. This might involve: Fact-checking statements of public officials (source: wikipedia)

In an attempt to discredit Adam Andrzejewski’s Forbes article, the Prairie Press should have  practiced Journalism over Wordsmithing.

In the closing comments by Mr. Tay  Smith, he claimed Edgar County was hurt by the story published by Andrzejewski because of shoddy reporting, half-facts and untruths, yet fails to provide any information on how it hurt the county.

As usual, we will make sure we have all our facts and report them to include either documents and/or direct quotes from those involved.

• Shoddy Reporting

When a person reads an OP/ED in the paper they normally lean to believe the information as we all assume such a piece would only contain facts and truths.  A key to ensuring facts and truths would be to contact those involved in the subject matter. Sadly, not one person from the Prairie Press contacted us regarding the Shiloh School Superintendent, one of two complaints Mr. Smith had with the Forbes article.  I think John’s article on that matter sums it up pretty good.  (Click here for Shiloh pervert article)

• Half Facts

Gary Henry Prairie Press 11/13/2014 : “Crippes maintained an office in the jail under former sheriffs Farnham and Tim Crippes. The 911 board moved the office due to what board members perceived as a hostile work environment during the administration of Sheriff Ed Motley.”

That would be an example of Half Facts if I understand Mr. Smith’s use of the term as it applies to journalism.

Fact: “Crippes maintained an office in the jail under former sheriffs Farnham and Tim Crippes”

False: “The 911 board moved the office..”.

Everyone knows it was Nannette Crippes who moved her office and it was not the board who moved her office, unless that wording was meant to imply they physically “moved” her office.

False: “due to what board members perceived as a hostile work environment during the administration of Sheriff Ed Motley.”

The “perceived” hostile work environment was not, nor could be, a perception of the board because they didn’t work there.  The perception now being claimed was that of Nannette Crippes.

1 out of 3………..not bad all things considered!

So as you can see, we have an Editor of a newspaper claiming to be a journalist who attacks a nationally published contributor by claiming he wrote half-truths, yet never points out what half truth he is referring to, and is guilty of publishing “half truths” in his own paper.  I presented the above example as to the importance of understanding Matthew 7:5:

“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

• Untruth

Tay Smith 11/13/2014 – “(The Watchdog stories) had no impact,”

Had Mr. Smith been in the gym the day following our exposure of this pervert, he might have thought twice about such a blatant “untruth”.  It may be his opinion, however, the referenced “handwriting on the wall” was not just the fact he was not going to get a pay raise.     To claim our efforts had nothing to do with it is like Chris Patrick claiming we had nothing to do with his resignation.

• Untruth

Tay Smith 11/13/2014 – “I can’t speak to all of these claims, and neither could Andrzejewski when we called him to ask about the details of this claim”

Mr. Smith had you called Mr. Andrzejewski yourself, you would know that your claim that he could not speak to all of the claims was 100% false.  In fact, according to Mr. Andrzejewski, he informed Gary Henry that he was willing to provide the data base containing that information provided the publisher contacted him.  How convenient that never happen.  Providing the database destroys the narrative of implying it is not true, which we all know is not the case.

Adam Andrzejewski: “Not only did I review the 33 Edgar County public officials, but also the complete listing of 102 officials from around the state.”

• Wordsmithing

“In the Rhoads’ case, corruption wasn’t a factor in the case not being retried, according to the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Office. “

That’s a clear example of wordsmithing.  Most readers interpret that statement in the context of the subject and are lead to believe there is no corruption regarding the Rhoads case.  That is not what was stated, nor do his comments have anything to do with what was reported in Forbes.  Mr. Andrzejewski made no reference as to why the case was not retried, nor made any implication that it was not retried because of corruption. Wordsmithing plays a clear role in Mr. Smith’s attempt to discredit the author however it failed miserably.

 Tay Smith 11/13/2014 – “As part of the evidence of our county being corrupt, Andrzejewski refers to the murders of Paris residents Dyke and Karen Rhoads in 1986. But that was a criminal investigation (and occurred long before the Watchdogs’ existence) and did not involve corruption.”

So far, each and every person I have talked to was blown away with the above quote by Mr. Smith.  Did not involve corruption?  Did you reach out to Mr. Callahan to validate that statement?  No, you did not, but I did!  Please enjoy his response to your shoddy reporting, half facts, and untruths!

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