Monday, May 05, 2008

Objectivity & Credibility

After pretty much tanning bob Holland's butt over the last year or so, with errors in judgement, and or telling it like it is, I was criticized recently for a column that actually praised him. It is necessary at this point to explain, that if I gang up on someone just because nobody likes him or what he does or is,it suggests that I will consistently do so.

Two words and every meaning of those words are at play here. The first, would be objectivity. Since I set out on my journey as a rather long in the tooth correspondent for the Spokesman-Review, I agreed with the S/R not to embarrass them with wild-eyed stuff that would call into question my objectivity or fairness. That applies to my blog as well as the published stories.

While most people in town agreed with many of my posts and or articles, not all will or did. That's OK. Anyone that is looking for 100% acceptance is probably smoking a banned substance.

The second point is credibility. If I were to march in lock step with any faction here in Bayview, even if most of the time I agree with their positions,I will or would have lost credibility, since I would have made it obvious that I am not objective, do not care about facts but am only interested in furthering an agenda.

I don't know when I lost the respect of those that thought I would never write anything good about Bob Holland, but then maybe I never had it. Maybe those persons considered me as a tool to further their own agendas. I am sorry, not about what I wrote, but about the loss of what I thought was respect and acceptance from those few that disagreed with me. I have to, for my own self respect adhere to the above words. Words that I live by.

1 comment:

Mari Meehan said...

Do I remember correctly that you have had some journalistic training? Journalism 101 - objectivity is the key and is pounded into you from day one. At least when I studied journalism that's the way it was.

Hooray for you for sticking by your guns. You own no one an apology nor an explanation.