More of the same.

It is not uncommon for there to be criticisms of the mainstream media in these pages and that is because I view the media's role in preserving the American way of life as second to none. It is forgivable that the media sometimes make mistakes, even get it completely wrong but its honesty and integrity must be beyond reproach. When you think about it, the vote that selects the men and women that govern and guide this great country of ours is only valuable if the electorate have a clear understanding of how and why their nation is evolving and what government is doing in front of and behind the scenes. Citizens throughout this country rely on the media to be the watchdog of government for them, to alert them if all is not well so they can make adjustments at the voting booth if necessary. That was the role the Founding Fathers visualized for those people called the press, so they endowed the press with special protection written into the U.S. Constitution. The power of the press assured in the Constitution was to stop all future governments from controlling the flow of information to the people.

I do apologize for the lecture. Almost everyone is familiar with the constitutional duties of the press but unfortunately most of our local media outlets have either forgotten or have compromised that fact.

In this area of Tennessee most of the media have abdicated their constitutional responsibility to become government sponsored public relations firms. Establishment mouthpieces parading as the media. Take the reporting this month in both the Cleveland Daily Banner and the Bradley News Weekly as a case in point. The Banner ran a series of reports by Managing Editor David Davis, on Sheriff Dan Gilley, that were an insult to the intelligence of its readers and quite frankly, fraudulent journalism. Gilley himself gave a clue as to the journalistic integrity of the Banner when he said after working as a reporter for the Banner covering law enforcement and the courts he was offered a job at the Sheriff's Department. My readers know why this editor would never be offered a job at the Sheriff's department, so you can understand why Gilley was. Let me spell it out for you in simple terms even the people at the Cleveland Daily Banner will understand. As a reporter, Gilley sold out his responsibility to his readers for a job with the people he was supposed to be watching and reporting on. Gilley had no integrity then and after serving as Sheriff for two decades didn't seem to acquire any later in life. Gilley didn't believe in freedom of the press but he routinely tried to manipulate it. Before I get to the Bradley News, I would like to comment on Gilley and the Banner's take on tasing abuse at the jailhouse. Disregarding the assurance that the people involved were fine corrections officers..... professional law enforcement personnel would never expect to be allowed to

"What do you think" Continued

use a taser gun on an already restrained inmate. To do so would be to condone the torture of prisoners for fun and that is what Sheriff Dan Gilley condoned with the Cleveland Daily Banner in tow. Unforgivable!

Enough said, so now to the Weekly. To be fair to the Bradley News Weekly (sorry the Bradley News), they are not the government lackeys the Banner have proved to be but they do not appear to take their media role as serious as the US Constitution expects.  In a retraction printed in the June 14 issue, Editor Ruth Gamble said, they got it wrong when they printed that one of their reporters was asked to stop recording at a Bradley County Finance Committee meeting. Gamble said that in fact the reporter, Tony Eubank, had been asked during the meeting if  "the committee could please go off the record for a few moments" and she said it was not uncommon for most reporters to honor such a request. She went on to say that what the commission said was not important but it was important for the Bradley News to admit they got it wrong.

Does anyone see a vital flaw in editor Gamble's reasoning? After assuring her readers of the integrity of the Weekly's Mission Statement which is:  "The mission of the Bradley News is to provide accurate and fair coverage of all local news as the medium by which all Bradley County residents and businesses turn for the highest level of information, quality and service," she apparently said that her staff can be asked to withhold information discussed at a public meeting at the request of officials and that they would comply. She was right in saying that it was not uncommon for reporters to honor off-the-record requests but those requests are always during a personal interview and never at a public meeting. If officials can require secrecy during public meetings, how can that be complying with the Weekly's own mission statement.

Gamble obviously doesn't take the responsibility of her role as a media representative seriously and it is sad that the "new and improved" Weekly is essentially a shadow of the Cleveland Daily Banner.  Just more of the same.

That's what I think. What do you think?

Unknown soldier hero.

There was a CBS story that surfaced in June that I just have to comment about. It was about the Purple Heart given by a young unidentified soldier to CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier, who had been severely injured by a car bomb while on assignment in Iraq. The soldier who had been awarded the medal for combat injuries reportedly visited Dozier in hospital. The soldier said he had met Kimberly in Iraq two years earlier after he had been wounded by shrapnel in his arm and wanted her to have the medal because she had suffered as much as any soldier had.

Every once in a while a person rises above their fellow man and act in a manner that stirs admiration and a little shame in this old man. If I had been courageous enough to earn a Purple Heart it would mean so much to me that I doubt if I could even consider giving it away, yet here is a young man doing the unthinkable out of compassion for a relative stranger. It would be rare anywhere else in the world for a man to act so unselfishly but not in America. Humbled I am. Proud of a fellow American I am. I am honored to be writing about an American soldier who is a true hero. Are the American people great, or what?

They got the money

The vultures had their way. The Bradley Memorial Hospital Trustees have maneuvered a large portion of the proceeds from the sale of the county owned facility into the hands of a private not-for-profit company to be doled out to quality of life "programs." The Bradley County United Way will oversee dispersal of the loot to agencies and programs and will in all likelihood end up in the coffers of the Five Points Museum, MainStreet  Cleveland and Keep America Beautiful, just as hundreds of thousands of tax dollars have in the past. And for what, I ask? A museum that is nothing more than a monument to Cleveland's privileged and influential while supplying jobs for their supporters. MainStreet Cleveland, a monument to Cleveland's privileged and influential while supplying jobs for their supporters. And Keep America Beautiful, a monument to Cleveland's privileged and influential while supplying jobs for their supporters. Why am I being so negative towards these agencies? First they are not "agencies" but private businesses. Second, they don't serve as a real and useful service that is supported by the citizens of the county and third, they are a waste of money.

The museum is not self supporting and never will be unless the ordinary person finds it entertaining and interesting. It is not entertaining or interesting because the people running it were not chosen for their ability but for who they knew and supported. The captured audience of school children is drying up with parents rebelling at being played for suckers and the exhibits are of little interest to the ordinary man or visitor. It has evolved into another county club for the hat and tails set but paid for by the taxpayer.

MainStreet Cleveland is designed to revitalize downtown Cleveland, not for the people to use but for fancy establishments for the "right" people to use and brag about to their out of town friends. MainStreet is a vehicle for local real-estate speculator and wealthy businessman Allan Jones to use public money to enhance the value of his holdings. Just another tax dollar drain with little benefit for the ordinary person and now thanks to the hospital loot, guaranteed a long and unaccountable life.

And Keep America Beautiful, what can I say that has not already been said. It is apparent to anyone with half a brain that it is inefficient, unnecessary and a waste of money.

Taxpayers of Cleveland, Charleston and Bradley County are weighed down with useless and unnecessary "agencies" and "programs" and now the Cleveland Bradley United Way, itself a useless "agency" has been given - who will ever know how much - hospital money to perpetuate the system and ensure it remains business as usual.

That's what I think. What do you think?

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