Scott Tibbs
blog post
Octover 27^th, 2004

Back to Archived blog posts.

More laziness from the Herald-Times

I read with interest the story in today's Herald-Times regarding the accusations flying in the race for Monroe County Surveyor. Reporting on a controversial issue in an important countywide race is a good thing, and putting it on the front page of the paper is a service to your readership.

Unfortunately, there is a major problem with the article. Apparently, no attempt was made to find out the actual facts of the case. There is no good reason for this. The documentation on who set what section corners is public record at the Surveyor's Office.

Instead of presenting the facts, the H-T simply chose to report on the controversy. This is unbecoming of a newspaper. Reporting that the two surveyor candidates are in a dispute over who did what requires no research, it simply requires repeating what the candidates have said. This represents what seems to be an unfortunate trend with the Herald-Times.

The H-T could have provided valuable information to Monroe County voters a week before the election by researching the facts and presenting evidence as to who is telling the truth and who is not. Today's H-T gave off a lot of smoke, but there was no fire to be found.

I encourage you to publish a follow-up story on this issue, with a report on what the facts of the case are. If you choose not to do so, perhaps the Indiana Daily Student can step in to the void left by today's Herald-Times.