Posted on 02/17/2004 4:08:12 PM PST by MountainPatriot
Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down – September 27, 2002
Thumbs Down! to The Paintsville Herald for its failure to acknowledge and correct errors and misrepresentations in its so-called “Straw Vote” ballot published ednesday. In a brief front page article and an unsigned editorial Friday, the paper did admit that it had received criticism for its promotion but claimed that its ballot “builds voter interest.” What a preposterous and arrogant, as well as blatantly absurd, assertion. In a lame effort to defend itself and its now highly questionable journalistic integrity, the editorial stated “(W)e have been here for more than a hundred years and one thing that should have become evident is in that time is that we respect our readers.” Since we are informed by highly reliable sources that the Straw Vote was the brain child of the newspaper’s publisher Marty Backus, we must assume that Backus was the author of the defensive editorial. Backus, of course, has not “been here for more than a hundred years”…hardly a hundred days…and the hundred years of solid journalistic reputation and respect to which he refers was built by men and women whose interests were in serving Paintsville and Johnson County, not in prostituting themselves and their profession nor in besmirching and degrading the well-deserved reputation Backus’ predecessors had earned.
Meanwhile…
Thumbs Up! to The Big Sandy News for its tongue-in-cheek and on-top-of-it “Stuff the Boxes” response to the Herald’s “Straw Vote”. Listing candidates from five counties, the BSN encouraged readers to “vote in any county, any race for any candidate.” Admitting that its ballot means absolutely nothing and that the publisher is “just trying to sell more newspapers”, Editor Scott Perry urged readers to “get out there and stuff the ballot boxes for your favorite candidates, or write in some new ones, we don’t care.” This refreshingly honest and up-front approach to a meaningless sales promotion makes the Herald’s pompous self-serving protests of a public service motivation for its balloting all the more ludicrous.
Just a reference for those. The Appalachian News-Express in Pikeville, Kentucky is owned by Lancaster Newspapers of Gadsden, Alabama.
Marty Backus is its publisher and is a left-wing liberal.
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