Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Last night's (9/23/14) commission meeting

Last night, 9/23/14, at the Lake Worth city commission meeting at the public comment period someone, claiming to be a journalist, came to the defense of Lynn Anderson and her erratic, bizarre behavior. Why a "journalist" would come to the defense of horrific images like putting names on bullets and burning the mayors image in effigy is beyond me. What happened on 9/9/14 as the public had had enough of Lynn Anderson's inappropriate behavior, someone "called her out." Bloggers are not special. They don't deserve special treatment. The First Amendment isn't just for the protection of bloggers. The First Amendment also protects the public against the abuses of so-called "bloggers" who are unable to control themselves by giving the right of people to speak up against what they find objectionable.

To the "journalist" who came to the defense of Lynn Anderson and her hateful activities? The truth is what you saw was the First Amendment at its best.

To the "journalist" who supports the violent and hateful behavior of Lynn Anderson, I direct her to the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Here is the SPJ Code of Ethics

Some excerpts from the SPJ Code of Ethics:

- "Never deliberately distort facts or context, including visual information. Clearly label illustrations and re-enactments."
- "Label advocacy and commentary."
- "Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect."
- "Balance the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance or undue intrusiveness."
- "Acknowledge mistakes and correct them promptly and prominently. Explain corrections and clarifications carefully and clearly."
- "Recognize that legal access to information differs from an ethical justification to publish or broadcast."

Click here for an example of a journalist not following the code of ethical journalism.

Now here is an example of commentary correctly labelled "commentary" and not "news." This is how commentary and opinion should be shown.

So much for "professional" journalism in Lake Worth, don't you think?

Oh, and here we have Katie McGiveron feigning surprise and crying "How could this be? on Facebook:
Showing respect for our leaders? Remember her Mighty Thumbs!