Regardless of what you think of Today in Fort Smith, or me personally for that matter, I consider the website and the Facebook (and Twitter and LinkedIn) pages to be a source of "news information" and I self-identify as a journalist.
Much of what you see on here is supplied by other sources (and generally carries a byline of "By Staff Report") but if you see my name on something, then it's on me. I hold my contributors to the same standard.
But the bottom line? The only "truth" that a lot of people (especially those in powerful positions) want out there is their version of the truth. We see it every day in the national media which, for example, will take a 25-second sound bite out of context and vilify a bunch of high school kids wrongly, and once it hits social media it turns into a crap cascade of epic proportions.
Then, when the real truth comes out, there is never an apology or retraction. Most of the cowards online will just "take down" the story and start looking for their next agenda-fitting crisis to stir up their miniscule following of squeaky gears. Some broadcast outlets are even worse...not only will they not admit when they are wrong, they often just continue the same narrative with a different spin to fit their agenda.
We get accused all of the time -- because of our mugshots -- of "convicting people" without "due process" which is just lame. We post that all "suspects should be considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law". "We" didn't say that Person X "committed a crime". All we said by posting a mugshot was that a law enforcement agency had detained the person for what they determined to be illegal activity.
And I have a standing, open invitation. If you are judged innocent by a court of law and you want me to publish that fact, all you have to do is let me know. I'm sure it happens. But no one has stepped up yet to "clear their name". Because, unfortunately, the vast majority are arrested for a valid reason.
Someone in the opposition to the truth about the Marshal's Museum dog and pony show posted today that I have an "agenda". Given the fact that every other media outlet in town publishes and broadcast only what they are given permission and told to publish, me and my "little blog" sure seems to draw a lot of detractors for furnishing an outlet for the opposing views.
If I have an agenda, what do those other guys have? Like Garth Brooks said....life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire. So own your complicity in the game. Or get out of the way and let the rest of us do the heavy lifting.
(Full disclosure: Concerned Citizens Against New Taxes has paid a considerable marketing fee to Today in Fort Smith. And that's because we accept issue advertising for issues (and candidates) we know to be morally and ethically sound. Some need not apply.)
I have made mistakes--factual mistakes--in a few of the stories on here. And that's what they are. Mistakes. Usually when I'm up at 4 a.m. doing the work of three people, dealing with alligators nipping at my butt, fending off crazed moms because we spelled their kid's name wrong on his mugshot and churning out the equivalent of a short novel each week, my eyes sometime cross.
But I own my mistakes. Out readers are sharp and they will get on me -- publicly and privately -- when I make a gaffe. We own it, correct it, acknowledge it...and move on. And I don't mind. Because unlike some folks, it's more important for me to be right than it is to be first. In fact, most of the mistakes we have published have come from an effort to get a "scoop".
That's the reason you will see very little from me about a car accident until the Arkansas State Police posts an accident report. Because I don't want to be the guy to describe a wreck involving a 2014 Dodge Ram and a 2008 Toyota Highlander before the next of kin has been notified and leave some horrified mother thinking the worse when her teenage daughter, who drives a 2008 Highlander, didn't make it home by curfew.
You would be amazed at the times readers have sent me pictures of mangled vehicles before police even got to the scene of the accident. If it appears like no one is badly hurt, I'll go ahead and post them as a courtesy so drivers can avoid bottlenecks and blocked roads. Yet I see some "outlets" throwing up pictures of the wrecked cars on the screen knowing that people died and not having a clue if the next of kin has been contacted.
I got started in the newspaper business working for a wise old sage by the name of Iverson Riggs, who owned the Crawford County Courier. I have had several mentors over the years, but none more to the point than Iverson.
Iverson (God rest his soul) told me two things I hold true to my heart to this day:
"Son, there are going to be people who are going to love you, hate you, kiss you and want to kill you...but at the end of the day all you have is the truth. It's your sword and your shield."
"Son, there are going to be people who are going to love you, hate you, kiss you and want to kill you...but at the end of the day the only other thing that matters is they read you. For the truth."
I hold myself to those standards. When I went on a rant a few weeks back and said I didn't care if you liked me or hated me, as long as you read me, that was my truncated version of what Iverson told me.
So I have friends and foes. And I have former foes who have come to realize that maybe they chose the wrong side of the equation because they see that, whatever else I am, I am not a toadie, a yes man or someone's puppet.
So keep spewing your hate. Keep trying to bring me down. Because what doesn't kill me just pisses me off.
And I will survive. Because that is the truth.
