The advance of the Internet means that political opponents don't need to find a mainstream reporter to air their opposition research anymore. They just have to decide what is more effective, their own, sometime anonymous voice, or that of an established reporter. In the Abdullah (sic) case, anonymity was enough.Shella should begin by trying to get the spelling of Abduallah's name correct. Secondly, how was the Abduallah case handled anonymously. Did two citizen protesters not stand up and call out Councilor Abduallah on the residency issue in a public, televised meeting? And am I, a constituent of Abduallah's, blogging anonymously about my concerns on the issue. What the hell is Jim Shella talking about? And by the way, a colleague of Shella's informed me long ago that he reads this blog every day. He simply won't be caught uttering its name in public. It seems to me Shella is the one choosing anonymity when it comes to anything written on this blog.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Reporters Are Shameless
Unbelievably, WTHR and reporter Mary Milz are taking credit for breaking the Abduallah residency issue without ever mentioning the story was first reported on this blog. Milz is married to Star editor Dennis Ryerson, who once complained that blogs were simply "noise." Meanwhile, WISH-TV's crack political reporter makes this absurd observation over at his blog. He writes:
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22 comments:
Not to discredit you, AI, but proper credit must be given to Abdul Hakim-Shabazz for discovering "the smoking gun" of the Warman address on the Candidacy Declaration Form. Of course, I'm curious what or who gave him the inspiration to check that particular form...
Actually, Wilson, I noted in my original reporting that one of Patrice's colleagues on the council noted he was using residential address for council business which was not in his district, as was reflected on the council's own site.
Whatever a bunch of ego-tripping reporters say, blogs like this one provide a valuable service to the citizens. As you've proven, they have more influence than people like to admit. Nice work.
Isn't it nice that Mary could show that story to the public, claiming it as her own?
I sent her an e mail telling her it was on the blogs days before and she replied that she got it from another source.
Just like a reporter! Get a story from one source and claim it was another.
Gary, do you have an e mail? I have an interesting police stopry to send you!
Yes, gwelsh@indy.rr.com
The female anchor on the 6 pm Ch. 13 news, led into the Milz story with, "as we reported first last night..." Etc. I could be mistaken, they could've used "esclusively" but it went by so fast I cannot remember.
I emailed Mary and called her on the carpet. She indicated a fellow reporter told her about it before she ever read the AI blog. Yeah, riiiight.
Well, I replied, if another reporter turned you onto it, then surely you understand why you're obligated to credit that reporter.
Otherwise, it's dishonest to claim it as your exclusive.
What a piece of work she is. If I knew the name of her news director (hint, hint) I'd take this complaint to him/her. It's really a pretty solid ethics complaint.
Considering how she and her station have broken their arms patting themselves on the back.
In contrast, Ch. 6 tonight just reported the story, and Martha Weaver did the lead-in. They did not claim exclusivity. They didn't credit AI, but, in fairness, if you don't claim it's your exclusive, a straight-on story is OK.
I thought Milz's story was also very pro-Patrice. As if he made a 20-ft. error innocently. Which is bullshit.
She held up the paperwork on the inspection violations, but she, and everyone else, missed this point: HE HASN'T LIVED IN EITHER HOUSE FOR MONTHS, IF NOT YEARS.
Duh. Ask the man for his ousing history. Watch him squirm.
This kind of sloppy journalism is exactly why politicians in this town can led them around by the nose. All the time.
I had no idea she was married to Dennis.
How eye-opening. She's a McReporter.
The female anchor on the 6 pm Ch. 13 ....town can led them around by the nose. All the time.
I e mailed her as well. On TV she said "She broke the story" MSM reporters don want to admit that are being scooped my the blogs.
Sent your e mail AI. Hope you can erify it!
Ronald Reagan often said "There are no limits to what a man can do or what he can accomplish...as long we he doesn't mind who gets the credit."
As for Patrice, good bye to bad rubbish. His own caucus members couldn't stand him and his unethical behavior.
One of councillors sent me an email saying Patrice tells "outright lies" and blames others for problems of his own creation.
Gary,
Keep up the good work...
Flipper
when jen wagner, communications director for the state democratic party, is providing citations for the residency law on blogs, you know the party wanted him gone.
i would say good riddance but there is that whole "devil you know" factor. also, he was far from the worst. ok, maybe the least competent but not the most self serving and corrupt. any chance for some others?
Yes, we bloggers get no respect. There is better satisfaction in knowing how the Dinosaur Media is rolling towards a slow death and there's dozens of blogs focusing on local issues here in Indianapolis. You, me, IndyUndercover, Abdul, etc.
After all how many MSM outlets even mentioned the name much less cited Matt Drudge and The Drudge Report when he broke the news that started the Lewinsky scandal in the (first and hopefully last) Clinton Administration. I think after almost 10 years after Matt started what is basically one of the original "news blogs" did I finally hear a MSM news source cite Drudge Report (the report of the monetary settlement between CBS and Don Imus).
Uh, Hailstone, a reality check: Drudge didn't break the Lewinsky scandal. The Wall Street Journal had them beat by three days. Complete wiith the heavyset lady, whose name now escapes me, who tried to "mother" and "manage" Monica. Larry King went ga-ga over that lady.
And please don't include IndyU in the list of credible blogs. On occasion, they hit paydirt, and I think the blogmaster has some zippy comments form time to time. But overall, it's a shrill and inaccurate blog, at best.
The local MSM has no shame. That's clear. Mary Milz, married to Dennis Ryearson...how freaking poetic is that?
I nearly fell out of my chair last night when I heard Milz take credit for breaking that story. Absolutely disgraceful.
I wrote an email to Mary Milz about Gary not getting credit and she called me back within 24 hours.
She does seem to take journalism seriously. Enough to call me to explain what happened.
She said she was tipped off by someone downtown who was talking about the residency of Patrice Abdullah and doesn't read this blog.
She confirmed she was at the CCC meeting when the gentlemen stood up to confront Abdullah, but she could not understand what they were saying from her vantage point.
She also said she would like to meet Gary.
Wouldn't we all like to meet Gary?
Be careful man, pat her down for weapons first!
Melyssa: she emailed me and offered to talk on the phone, too...which I'll try to do, but my schedule is tight.
She told me a "fellow media member" tipped her. I'm certain it was a Star reporter. That's their news-gathering partner, a phrase you've heard before because they repeat it about four hundred times a night. Except, of course, when it comes to claiming credit. She was obligated to tell her public who gave her the tip if she did not originate it herself. This was no ordinary story, and the associated hoopla gauranteed her the hype. She rode it for all it was worth.
Mary is disingenous at best, and greedy at worst. She went to a credible journalism school. But as a former journalist myself, I can tell you: her report on Patrice was hardly balanced.
Plus, as pointed out, she's married to the Star editor. Which is not necessarily a conflict, but it raises my suspision. The person who GAVE her the "tip" was from The Star. Hardly an arms-length transaction.
Her credibility is sadly lacking on this story and her subsequent explanations of the report's origin.
And perhaps a tad inconsistent, too.
Maybe AI should become a "news-gathering partner" with the Star and Chan 13 ?
:)
Before you guys beat up on Mary Milz, let me tell you something about her I know first hand.
The day the mayor held the 2005 press conference downtown attempting to label me as the owner of two "illegal adult businesses" is the day I first met Mary Milz.
(by the way, the city attorney was forced to admit at that press conference that neither of my businesses meet the legal definition of adult)
Mary Milz was one of the reporters I talked with at the press conference and she actually listened to me. I even let her come into my home after the press conference and she met one of my submissives. She was told (by him) that he was in chastity to service to women and his first job was to serve his grandmother who relies a lot on him.
Mary was very respectful and did the most balanced job of all the news reports that night. She took the time to try to see both sides of a story and subject that few people have the capacity to understand and a subject that most love to misjudge.
She tried to call me three times yesterday about Gary and the Abdullah story. She called again first thing this morning.
Most reporters would not give you the time of day. She might not be perfect, but then who among us is?
It sounds like she sincerely tried to contact everyone that wrote her about Gary.
Each of us in our pasts have slighted people without understanding that we are doing so. Give her room to be human too.
I'd like to give Mary an extra bit of room here, Melyssa, and it's very nice of you to point out her reporting expertise.
Your story was different, and, if you'll allow, extremely delicate. People tend to fly off the (wrong) handle at the mention of that type of activity, because many view it as perverse. Whether it is or not is of no concern to me, and you've been through your battles, and, from what i've seen, come through stronger for it. Not that you'd want to do it again.
And I'm glad she reported your issue fairly. See? She can do it right.
But I've gotta tell you, on this story, she had a chance, actually muptiple chances between her and her station, to NOT claim credit for the "exclusivity" of this story, and they balked every single time.
I hold certain professions to high ethical standards. Journalism is one. She dropped the ball big-time on this one. There is no doubt about that. She didn't come up with the story herself, and she did not credit the source who gave it to her, which she now claims was another reporter.
Does that mean I'll never trust her again? No, not for this miscue alone. But her Patrice story, her big "exclusive", was not complete. It lacked certain reportorial basics.
Like: "Mr. Adullah, could you please list for us, over the last five years, your addresses, as official residencies, and the associated timeframes?"
Cause I'll tell you, this story isn't over yet--Patrice doesn't now, nor has he ever lived at his Mom's. It was just the most-convenient of many addresses he's had...convenient to show he "tried" to live in the district and missed by 20 feet.
And any good reporter who had his ear for 30 seconds would've asked that. Patricve isn't clever enough to respond without lying. His face would've told the story, alogn with his bumbling.
In short, she effed up the whole story, and it started with source attribution.
I am a reporter, Gary, and if blogs are becoming this influential in Indianapolis, then Shella et al. are missing another story. This should be a big 2008 election story overall.
Also worth noting is that the Indiana Democratic State Party threw a fit when the Indiana Republicans under Jim Kittle mocked then-Gov. Joe Kernan in a cartoon. They denounced the tenor of that campaign event. The media helped them out.
Yet now, the media has been silent about the ravings of the Dems' communications director and her blog, which once showed a picture of Becky Skillman with a corn cob, and asked readers to "Caption this." That's mild, too, compared to her daily fits.
What hypocrites the Dems and the Indianapolis/Statehouse media types are.
Gary, I just read Jen Wagner's rant against you over at Taking Down Words. She is being a complete hypocrite on the issue and displaying the worst of her mean-spirited streak. I don't understand how she keeps her job as spokesperson for the Democratic Party. She has pretty much destroyed her credibility by her recent antics.
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