Scott Tibbs
Published in the Herald-Times, 11-08-2004

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The al-Jazeera Herald-Times should be ashamed

The "Weekly World News Herald-Times" should be ashamed of itself.

First, the H-T publishes false charges made against county Surveyor Vic Farkas. The H-T did not bother to research the facts, which showed the charges were false. The H-T finally printed a correction, though. The correction was buried in the Saturday paper, the least-read edition of the week.

Then, the H-T publishes a story attacking the character of Jeff Ellington with the top headline of the day. H-T readers saw deeper in the story that the charges were baseless, but that does not excuse the headline.

Finally, the H-T launches a vicious and nasty personal attack against Bud Bernitt for the WhereIsBaron.com Web site. The H-T presented no argumentation, only an "ad hominem" argument. (It is interesting that the H-T did not see the irony in whining about civility in politics while launching a nasty personal attack.) The voters of the 9th District, though, saw through the spin of the H-T and Baron Hill's campaign and sent Congressman Hill home.

Whether it is laziness, incompetence or bias, we deserve better than the poor journalism of the H-T. We need another newspaper to give the "Weekly World News Herald-Times" some competition.