Something that I strive to follow are ethics. Now, l know many will disagree that the Guardian follows journalistic ethics, and that’s quite alright; that is their opinion, and under the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and case law, people are allowed to have such an opinion. Likewise, however, under the same documents, the employees of the Guardian are allowed to exercise their right to freedom of press.
“Freedom of press” are words that are taken too lightly nowadays; anyone can create a website or blog and call themselves “news.” Five years ago, the term “fake news” was barely mainstream. Now, when something is published that someone disagrees with, it’s quickly labeled “fake news.” But what is fake news, really? To me, “fake news” is the publication of false information, and in those instances, I’m quick to point out inaccuracies, myself; I expect the same from people about my work and the work of my staff: if we’re wrong, call us out so we can fix it.
On Monday morning as snow started to fall around the area, a Chillicothe-based Highway Patrol trooper was involved in a minor crash with two other vehicles. Thankfully, the trooper and others involved were not seriously harmed. The Guardian knew the weather was going to be challenging for the morning commute based on weather predictions by meteorologists, and as a result, we had a staff member monitoring the roadways for any major situations.
Just after 6 a.m. on Monday, a call went out that a trooper had been involved in a crash; it was said to have occurred on route 159 near Adena Regional Medical Center, or what is also known as, “right in front of the Highway Patrol post.”
The Guardian was able to confirm the crash and confirm that one person was being transported to the hospital for minor injuries; we published this information on our platforms. Later Monday morning, the Guardian, along with 12 other publications across the state, received a media release from the Chillicothe post (that’s what law enforcement and media call the Ross County branch of the patrol).
Now, before I go into what their email reads, I want to preface this with a few things:
Many people are quick to say that the Guardian dislikes police officers because of our hard-hitting investigations that sometimes uncovers the wrongdoing of law enforcement officers; that simply could not be further from the truth. I can speak for myself, my publication, and my staff that we are not “cop haters.” If any of my employees were to show the slightest sign of disrespect toward a law enforcement officer in their professional or private lives, they would be removed from our publication immediately. The reason for this is because I take law enforcement close to my heart; I’ve worked for two county Sheriff’s offices; I launched the late-Justice Network (a television channel dedicated to law enforcement) with John Walsh from America’s Most Wanted; I have been seeing a police officer for quite some time; I wear a thin blue line ring on my finger; I spent Thanksgiving with a trooper and their family; some of my best friends are police officers, and they are reading this right now, likely saying, “Don’t waste your time addressing the lies. Those people who are talking look foolish.” I do not dislike police officers in the slightest.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s address the purpose of this editorial:
The email from the Highway Patrol reads, in its entirety:
Please see attached.
To the editor of The Scioto Valley Guardian, please correct your unsubstantiated report claiming the officer was at fault.
[click here to see attachment]
Email from Sergeant Donald Kelley, Ohio Highway Patrol; February 15, 2021 at 10:04:57 AM EST.
As you can imagine, when I received the above email my stomach dropped. It dropped because I was worried the Guardian published false information, and more importantly, that we had published false information about a law enforcement officer. I was quick to read the email’s attachment and then, re-read our story about the incident; my worriedness quickly changed to confusion and borderline anger. I was perplexed.
In the email, Sgt. Kelley accused the Guardian of saying that the trooper involved in the crash was at-fault for the crash. In actuality, our article read, “The person responsible for the crash was not immediately released.”
Monday is a federal holiday, which is observed by state offices, including the administration at the Highway Patrol. Luckily, I’ve established a relationship over my years with many administration officials in state government, and I was relieved when one of them — who is on vacation in another state — asked a supervisor to phone me to address the situation; administration has committed to us that the situation will be looked into.
My issue is not being called out for an article, even though what we printed was factual information. My issue is that the Sergeant who authored the email is in a position of administration over the Chillicothe post and proceeded to call our report inaccurate, when it clearly is not. Perhaps the biggest issue I took to the email was that it was sent to 12 other news publications, including our competitors; as you can imagine, they were quick to jump on the “bandwagon” and cite the email in their reporting that we were wrong; that’s not okay.
We stand by every letter in the article about the trooper involved in a crash, especially the line that reads that the person’s name who was at-fault had not been immediately released. We are thankful that no one was seriously injured in the accident.
I will continue to support law enforcement 110% with every fiber in my being, but I will also be quick to point out when they are wrong, with hopes they will correct themselves. I expect the same from them when we are wrong, but this was not that time.
May God bless our law enforcement officers and their families.
