Posted on 02/20/2004 7:22:11 PM PST by conservativegadfly1
Mea Culpa by Michael Barrick. 02-20-2004.
I got a few things wrong in a recent column
When the publisher of a national Christian weekly – a writer known for his direct and pointed prose – suggests to me that I was over the top in a column I wrote about a North Carolina congressional candidate, then I was over the top.
He wasn’t the first to suggest it, though. So have a few of my colleagues and, not surprisingly, the subject of the column, Vernon Robinson.
Mr. Robinson is one of many candidates running for the open 5th Congressional seat in the upper Piedmont of North Carolina. He placed a monument of the Ten Commandments and other historical documents in front of the Winston-Salem City Hall, where he serves as a councilman, on the day the city was closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. I criticized him for it, questioning his motives – suggesting it was because of the political combat in which he is engaged that he did it.
Mr. Robinson took exception to my column.
He said I was wrong on many counts, not the least being his motives. Indeed, I was mistaken in two ways – through acts of omission and then basing my judgment regarding his motivations on incomplete information caused by those omissions.
First, I said that one of Mr. Robinson’s opponents had the endorsement of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. I was wrong. Though Mr. Moore had allegedly, through a third party, offered a tentative endorsement – and that was reported in local news media – I should have checked the claim of an endorsement with Moore’s office directly. I did not and am wrong for that omission. And, I complicated this error further by asserting that Mr. Robinson was motivated, at least in part, by the alleged endorsement.
Additionally, I reported that the monument was placed on city property in violation of city code. It was not. Instead, according to Winston-Salem city attorney Ron Seeber, Mr. Robinson was in violation of a resolution – not an ordinance or code – passed last autumn by the city council. However, Mr. Robinson disagrees that the resolution in question even applies to his placement of the monument on city property.
Also, I left readers with the impression that Mr. Robinson’s placement of the monument was spontaneous, when in fact he had apparently talked to others about it for some time.
My greatest error was in ascribing a motivation to Mr. Robinson’s actions based on incomplete information. I generally, even in opinion pieces, share the facts and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions. In this case however, I stated that I knew Mr. Robinson’s motivations. Motivations are always fair game in politics and other spheres of power and influence since sometimes those seeking positions of power do not do so to serve others. Nevertheless, one must have complete information before making such judgments. And, of course, nobody can read a person’s mind or heart, so I could not possibly know with certainty what motivated Mr. Robinson to do what he did. In this sense especially, I was, as my colleague said, “over the top.”
It is important that readers understand that these errors do not reflect upon the accuracy of the articles customarily found on thegoodsteward.com. We take seriously the stewardship responsibility in writing and publishing articles so that readers can read with confidence; and I understand the inherent irony – considering our publication’s title – in failing to meet these standards, not just regularly, but every time.
In this case, I did not adhere to the standards for which we have become known. For that and any inconvenience caused to anyone by my column about Mr. Robinson, I apologize.
© Wall Watchers, 2004
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