Lousy reporters

The cannon situation is still going on, even though legislation was pass and has now been signed by Governor Douglas. Two weeks ago Jim got a call from a reporter for the New York Times. She had heard about the cannon and was working on a article about it. I was cautiously optimistic that this would be a great opportunity to really publisize the story. She conducted a phone interview with Jim and since then we've been waiting to hear when the story would run.

Well, it's in today's paper and I'm so angry and disappointed. She screwed up her facts. Totally. I was so upset this morning that I sent her a two and a half page letter detailing what she got wrong and what the actually facts are, which if she had bothered to spend some time researching and reading she could have figured out for herself. I even provided her with some documentation and she still got it wrong! What the f*ck?!?!?!?!?!?!? The articles that appeared in the Burlington Free Press and Rutland Herald were far superior in terms of accuracy and balance.

I feel awful about this. I expected better coverage. Hell, I expected her to DO.HER.JOB as a reporter. Unbelievable!!!

Throughout this whole ordeal I haven't said much of anything about this to many people at work, and I definitely didn't say anything prior to any of the other articles being published. This one I've been talking about a bit. Not a lot, but enough that now I'm going to have to explain what's wrong with it. And since a lot of people I work with read the Times--and this article appeared on page 26 of the main section of the paper and many people know that about me and Jim and the unit--I'm going to have even more explaining to do.

It sucks feeling like I have to defend myself--and Jim--against the Times. It's so unfair...

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I really appreciate the support you guys have given me throughout this whole thing. Jess--I think I'm going to have to take you with me to kick some asses! Thank you for all of your kind comments, even though I've sucked at acknowledging them lately. (That's another thing on my mid-year's resolution list. I'm working on it.) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!