Apparently it is only important to claim a blog, i.e. Michael Silense, when something goes right. Michael's source for the story made a lot of changes to their story. Wonder why the KNS didn't make Michael change his story? Oh, right, No Silence here isn't part of the KNS.

The HaslamCo Times is a new kind of newspaper. Heavy on PR, light on actual reporting. This new concept of "second hand" reporting begs the question of who is left at the HaslamCo Times to actual cover a local story? You may notice if the local story doesn't include Lumpy, Scoobie, or a cast of other colorful characters the Editor doesn't care for, the story isn't printed. If Aliens landed on Neyland Field and gave humankind a cure for cancer the story wouldn't make it to press if Lumpy farted at a charity luncheon the same day. Oh Michael Silence might cover the cancer cure story but who reads blogs?

I haven't discussed it with Jack, but my guess is that he didn't see Michael Silence's post. We've got 41 active blogs on our site and it would be easy to overlook (I didn't see it either). No Silence Here is an aggregate blog that links to other blogs, including this one. The link he provides in that post is to a blog that reports that the "interview" was a hoax. Jack's point is that we checked out a rumor that was on the internet and could not confirm it so we didn't publish a news story. But don't take my word for it. You can ask Jack himself by going to his blog and posting your question.

As for Michael Collins' reference to media reports, he was talking about a New York Times story based on two anonymous sources who didn't want their names used because they weren't authorized to discuss the talks between Dodd and Corker. Collins might indeed have heard about the same details but we don't have the luxury of using unnamed sources in our stories.

Scott Barker
KNS

The link he provides in that post is to a blog that reports that the "interview" was a hoax.

The site changed the story after Michael Silence linked to it.

Either way, Michael merely linked to the site. His blog doesn't investigate whether the linked posts are accurate, whether they are at huffingtonpost or knoxviews or anywhere else. He reports what's going on in the blogosphere, not on the stories themselves.

Also, before anyone asks, the search function on our site doesn't pick up blog postings so anyone searching for "corker" and "dolly" would not stumble across that post.

BTW, I'm not griping about your post. Just trying to explain what likely happened. As I said before, the best thing would be to ask Jack directly. That's what interactive media is all about.

Scott Barker
KNS

No one has assigned me the job of "defending" the KNS. I admit it does get frustrating when people post speculations online about our purported motives when all they have to do is ask us. The internet has given us an opportunity to have a dialogue with our readers, which is what I'm doing.

I thought this thread was about Jack's post and that the question was why he wrote that we didn't publish anything about the Dolly-Corker hoax online when Michael Silence had mentioned it previously on his blog. Last time I checked, no one had bothered to ask Jack, at least through his blog.

As for the question about "pressure," I can answer that. There was no pressure. We checked out a rumor and couldn't confirm it so we didn't write a news story. Basic journalism.

Scott Barker
KNS

In what may be the biggest Mea Culpa in recent Knox County history, Jack "Charter Amendment" McElroy eats his words. Don Bosch and Susan Williams do a little soft shoe also. Oh, and Don Parnell was there also. Might want to work on that body language Don.

(link...)

Minute 23:50.

At the end of the program after much explaining of how the intentions were good, McElroy says of the Charter Amendments, "what the County Commission wanted to do was keep these off the ballot, what happened was something did pass, a majority of the voters passed it, it was FLAWED but it passed.

FLAWED???? WTH?

That is what people told you from the beginning Jack. Did you care? No. You didn't care then if it was illegal. But now, you get it? You own this. This was your baby. You did this.

Knox County Commission did their job Jack. They kept illegal FLAWED Charter Amendments off the ballot. So what does Jack say, he says they kept it off the ballot. That is their job Jack. You are criticizing them for doing what they were supposed to do.

Over $150,000 dollars of private money was raised to collect the signatures for the petitions, over $95,000 of taxpayers money was burned to count the petitions.

Thanks a bunch Jack.

On April 5th Chancellor Weaver will begin to hear the case of whether Charter Amendment 3 is illegal. Will the Sentinel report on the story? Will Jack McElroy apologize?

Stayed tuned. Only in Knox County.

Scott, thanks for chiming in.

The point was that Mr. McElroy said it never appeared online or in print. It did appear on the KNS website at a blog, in the form of an excerpt (which had most of the "story") and a link to the source. My follow up point was that newspapers should "own their blogs" or else they will become what newspapers claim independent, amateur, citizen blogs to be: unreliable.

(As for the assertion that management cannot possibly monitor all the content on all the KNS websites and publications, it seems some of the public can - at least the more important parts pertaining to public affairs. Isn't that sort of the job of the newspaper editor?)

Second, it appears that Mr. McElroy is for some strange reason trying to take credit for or draw attention to the fact that the KNS could not verify the story so it wasn't run as a news item. How many times per day does that happen? Why single out this one? Was the disclosure intended to highlight journalistic integrity at the paper or provide a convenient vehicle to further promote team Corker pushback against the payday lending story? Sometimes appearances are everything.

From what you say, it appears that the paper took it seriously enough to investigate. I saw the fake "press release" and can see why. It was expertly crafted and had all the elements to suggest it was real, which I suppose is why it got picked up by so many other "news" outlets. The real story here is who would do it, and why? Maybe that would be a more interesting angle to pursue.

Finally, I like the idea of Jack McElroy's blog as a look behind the scenes at the KNS editorial process. It's always interesting. This time it was just a little weird. As for asking him directly there, as pointed out earlier there's nothing to ask. My post states some facts and some personal observations (i.e. opinions) re. those facts. Further, I don't recall Mr. McElroy ever responding to any of my past comments at his blog. He has, however, responded to private emails. But again, there's really not much to ask. And it works both ways. He is welcome to comment here any time on any topic.

Thanks again for your comments and observations.