Read and then decide for yourself.
Finally last week, Jeff Bennett had a very interesting letter to the editor informing Templeton residents about the $14,000 paid to Jeff Ritter upon resigning his position as Town Coordinator. (Just for the record, being a local business owner and employer , I have never heard of anyone getting a bonus or severance check for resigning.) After reading the article I noticed for the first time the rules set forth by the Gardner News for writing an article to the Editor at the bottom of the page. The third paragraph clearly states,
The Gardner News reserves the right to decline submissions that are libelous or factually incorrect , ARE POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS as well as to edit letters for length, content and style. “
Now about the political endorsements part. If you look at the letter to the editor written by Boob, (Typo, I mean Bob Columbus), dated on or around Feb 3 , 2012. The last sentence of letter, Boob, (Again typo, so sorry) Bob writes, VOTE RECALL, VOTE VIRGINA WILDER AND VOTE PATRICK MULLENS.
Now am I imagining things or is that a FREE POLITICAL ENDORSEMENT OR NOT.
That was a free political endorsement allowed by the gardner news. That is also the first letter to the editor in a long time that I did not have to provide all kinds of proof through documentation nor did I receive any e-mails informing me I had to cut out parts of my letter. It was kind of surprising to submit a leeter on Monday and have it appear on Thursday. Since my last letter I submitted was not printed in the snews because I refused to change it, cut it and take parts out because as I informed the snews, I already had it out on my newsletter and on the internet on the blog. Perhaps the gardner news was trying to show they are not onesided because I know they read this blog, andre caamano admitted to it in one of his articles. perhaps they are thinking people may stop bying the news because it has become no use to people, whatever the case, my letter got in and we will see if their reporting changes longterm
ReplyDeleteThe Gardner News refused to print an article I wrote to support Julie and Bob during the recall. Then when I paid for an ad, they put it in, but left out my name--I think Mrs. Bell is doing a disservice to the people in this area, allowing this biased reporting to take place. I wanted to speak to her, but she had gone to Florida and left the playground to the kids to run.
DeleteSame thing happened to me a while back, Bev, with the Gardner News & Bell when I was trying to get the other side's point of view out about things going on in Templeton. She wasn't going to print my editorial but it was too important not to have it printed so I paid for the insertion, too. That paper is the pits now. It seems, Mrs. B. is always on "vacation" or somewhere else when she doesn't want to deal with the issues as they should be!! So much for fair & balanced reporting! You won't get it at the GNews. That is my opinion.
DeleteThe bias of the press is one of the most important topics as we are all influenced by what we read in the newspapers. Who controls what we read is seen in this short video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJNgm4kM24s
ReplyDeleteIf you own a newspaper you have to make sure your funds continue to roll in. The Town of Templeton buys a lot of space in The Gardner News. Perhaps Ms. Bell knows there are repercussions for betting on the wrong horse.
Maybe Templeton should change to the telegram, just to show Bell how quick the dollars can disapear, of course that is what happens when you marry into money rather than work for it.
ReplyDeleteI will go on record in the hopes the Gardner News is reading this blog. I have not been and WILL NOT buy the Gardner News again, nor will I Buy anymore advertising space/classifieds that I have been several times a year every year. If they change their ways and consistently show both sides of every story I may reconsider. I am only one person but my average payout to TGN was around $1600. a year if it makes any difference.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the Gardner News anymore either for the same reasons!
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