You can't quote me without permission!

I saw this yesterday and laughed myself silly. Clearly a guy who should not be in public service. I love how the paper has been having fun with this.

 

Great job by the editorial staff. I'm going to incorporate this into my classes when I get to public/elected officials.

 

It seems someone on that staff once worked at the Marietta Daily Journal.

 

There are many, many small-town (and medium-town ... and big-city) papers that wouldn't have gone nearly as far in defense of what's right as this one has. I'd imagine many of us have worked for such papers. It's nice to see one with some stones.

 

Not just "can't quote me" -- can't mention my name without permission. Great stuff.

 

Has the douchebag responded at all? It's impossible to tell just from a Google search because there are about 1,000 links to the editorial.

 

Frederick County Councilman Kirby Delauter today issued the following statement apologizing for his recent threat to sue a Frederick News-Post reporter for using his name in print without permission:

“The first amendment is alive and well in Frederick County. As a public figure working to maintain and improve the county, it can be very frustrating to feel misrepresented or misinterpreted by a local media outlet.

“Over my career I have fired off my fair share of angry e-mails, which in hindsight I wish I hadn't. I can't think of one that had a positive effect. Usually, they only served to escalate the conflict. I thought I had long ago learned the lesson of waiting 24 hours before I hit the send key, but apparently I didn't learn that lesson as well as I should have.

“Of course, as I am an elected official, the Frederick News-Post has the right to use my name in any article related to the running of the county -- that comes with the job. So yes, my statement to the Frederick News-Post regarding the use of my name was wrong and inappropriate. I'm not afraid to admit when I’m wrong.

“I got elected to serve all the citizens of northern Frederick County, Democrats as well as Republicans. I look forward to the local papers covering my effort in that regard.”

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/pu...cle_48b2a336-96b8-11e4-8c3f-63665634f9a3.html

 

Not a bad apology. I've certainly read worse.

 

I'm sure Kirby Delauter's PR handler had fun writing that apology.

 

At least he's not a complete moron.

 

For every one thread that makes me miss my former full-time profession, there are of course dozens on here that make me want to urge everyone to run for the hills with me.

This, however, is one of those needle-in-a-haystack threads. Journalism, done right, has the license to practice a special brand of "fuck you"-ism that is not present in almost any other profession. And it can be truly glorious, like here. It is a noble occupation. Now, that doesn't mean you should accept $15K a year to practice it. But goddamn, it's a noble occupation.

 

The best two sentences in the op-ed, by far, are the two that gets right to the source of this bullshit. Bolded parts mine:

"Discernibly, though, Kirby Delauter's ignorance of what journalism is and does is no joke, and illustrates one disturbing aspect too prevalent in conservatives’ beliefs: That the media are all-liberal stooges hell bent on pursuing some fictional leftwing agenda. Generally this "fact" is bleated when the facts on the ground differ from conservative talking points."

Sadly, we may not be able to discuss what is now a real problem in the way journalists are seen -- and how a tinpot, horseshit version of conservatism that would rather throw its weight behind penny-stock Internet truthers than actual professionalism has badly eroded useful discourse and even people's interest in deciding for themselves vs. adopting crackpot nonsense -- because, like journalists we are, we're worried about not being equivocal enough with both sides of the political spectrum.