There are
also indications that Mercer President, William D. Underwood thinks more of the
grant money for this endeavor than he does of honest journalism.
At any
rate the following is a copy of a letter sent to Underwood on the date shown
below. A copy of it was sent to everyone as noted at the end of the letter. We
are posting this on line for the record.
All copies
were sent by certified mail with a return receipt which we have.
William D.
Underwood February 26, 2012
Mercer
President
1400
Coleman Avenue
Macon,
Georgia 31207
Re: “$4.6M
journalism partnership launched”
The Telegraph’s story “$4.6
M journalism partnership launched” (Dec. 16, 2011) was of interest
to us. We cannot remember a time during our life when honest, ethical and
accurate information was more important to the people of middle Georgia and the
country than it is now.
The
following opinions are ours and we apologize to no one for them. If anyone can
show us where we are wrong we promise to consider it with an open mind which is
more than The Telegraph does. In the
event we are wrong we will gladly apologize to all concerned.
To explain
our interest in this we are of the opinion the people of middle Georgia are not
getting the news they pay good money for and as we approach the 2012 election
we intend to document any and all deceit and distortions or as The Telegraph would put it the “lies”
and post them online.
We agree that this could be a “potential to
change journalism”, however we do not hold out much hope that honest and
ethical journalism will emerge from anything connected with The Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Perhaps this is what all involved parties are planning; we will reserve
our opinion on this.
To us one
of the most egregious and unforgivable offences in any organization is the
assumption of airs depicting honesty, integrity and morality while covering up
deceit and dishonesty. We have reached the conclusion that The Telegraph is in the top1% in this category. Please show us
where we are wrong!
This is
especially appalling when the conduct comes from an organization that society
deems to be a “pillar of the community”. Examples such as churches, law
enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education and newspapers come to
mind. Certainly these organizations and individuals should be held to the
highest of standards.
However,
two examples of failure come to mind immediately in this category and they have
wreaked havoc on communities and countries around the world, they are the
Catholic Church and the so called main stream media. Some would argue that our
institutions of higher learning are on a mission to place indoctrination above
higher learning.
We all
know the story of the Catholic Church and how some of their priest was allowed
to wreck devastation on individuals and communities while the church hierarchy
stood by and allowed it to occur. A
large portion of the other offender, the so-called news media, has cast aside
all pretense of honest, moral and ethical conduct. One of the biggest offenders
in the state of Georgia is The Telegraph.
This is documented, they can deny it, they can misrepresent it (or as The Telegraph likes to say lie about it)
or they can ignore it, however they cannot change it because it is documented.
No matter
what anyone thinks of him, William Randolph Hearst could not have been more
accurate than when the New York
Journal-American quoted him as saying; “According to American principle and
practice the public is the ruler of the State, and in order to rule rightly it
should be informed correctly.”
It seems
as if a large part of the so-called media has forgotten this if they ever knew
it. The Telegraph is a part of that
media which has clearly demonstrated this over a period of years. It has an
undisputable history in this area and it is available to anyone who cares to
look. It can be found at the Washington Memorial Library located in Macon. It
is sufficient to say we have spent a considerable amount of time there in order
to either verify or refute our opinion; our research dates back to January of
1992.
To no
avail we have shared our misgivings and documentation with the staff of The Telegraph both present and past
going back to December 31, 1994. It really appears that The Telegraph cannot comprehend or just does not care that all the
people want is honest news, facts and information they can depend on.
We will
not bother anyone with extensive details; we will point out a few things to
make our point.
The first
and one of the most egregious is what we can only describe as a scam and that
is The Telegraph’s determination to
completely ignore what is going on with Eric Holder and the United States
Justice Department. This could be of vital importance to the people of middle
Georgia because of the upcoming election.
It would
appear that The Telegraph’s
deliberate choice to withhold this and other information from the people of
middle Georgia while promoting the paper as “middle Georgia’s newspaper” is the
perfect definition of a scam.
To add
credence to the above opinion we cite President and Publisher George McCanless’
e-mail to us dated Friday, July 23, 2010 2:21 PM.
We had
questioned the lack of coverage about the conduct of some of our more prominent
politicians and their unethical and criminal conduct.
President
and Publisher George McCanless replied listing stories The Telegraph had carried and insinuated we would have to be
satisfied with that. He went on to point out that “Rep. Rangel has been charged
with ethics violations…” but “He hasn’t been convicted of anything---yet.” as
the reason for the lack of coverage by The
Telegraph. McCanless emphasizes his point with “…I trust you get the
message.”
The Telegraph has since that time quit responding to any comments made
about their penchant for misleading the people of middle Georgia which is their
prerogative.
Therefore
we think we can disregard Executive Editor Sherrie Marshall’s assertion that;
“Our goal with this partnership is to harness our collective resources to
elevate community and civic journalism, involve and engage more citizens,
readers, listeners, web and mobile users, and provide a unique learning
environment for both new and seasoned journalists,”
To be fair
to The Telegraph after that exchange
they run some coverage of the story. (It must have been very painful and
reminiscent of their failure to cover the Massachusetts Special Senate Election
held on January 19, 2010)
This
brings to mind the fact that Presidential Candidate Herman Cain was never
“convicted of anything---yet.” either! That did not stop The Telegraph from using
all of the accusations and rumors in his case. Neither did it prompt The Telegraph to inform the subscribers
of the known facts about the women’s background which were readily available. The Telegraph’s participation in this
“hi-tech lynching” truly has the odor of bigotry! We are relatively sure if we
were to check we would find that Georgia
Public Broadcasting did the same.
If anyone
can explain why any honest and straightforward newspaper would withhold this
type of information from their subscribers we would like to hear it. The people
we talk to have formed the opinion this is deliberate deceit by omission. They
also feel The Telegraph is doing this
to further their own political agenda.
Then there
is the fact that The Telegraph has
ignored the death of federal agents and Mexican Nationals connected to “fast
and furious” and the “gunrunning” program which Eric Holder is running out of
the United States Justice Department. This is a news story any honest newspaper
would cover. Yet The Telegraph has
deliberately ignored this story.
The Telegraph’s cover-up of the documented deceit and lies of Eric Holder
before the congressional hearings of the United States Congress has the odor of
a political agenda.
When we
look back to the year 2007 and look at the ink they used on the Bush
administration’s legal firing of six
U.S. Attorneys and their attempts to denigrate Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales we began to see their agenda. Also we might note the fact that the
Clinton Administration fired 93 United States Attorneys and The Telegraph found this was O.K.
To date
they have ignored the controversial ruling by this administration pertaining to
the Catholic Church, birth control, abortion, etc. The Telegraph has ignored the fact that the President is a little
late but is now fulfilling Valerie Jarrett’s promise that he is ready “to
rule”. This administration has clearly demonstrated this “ready to rule” with
their attempt to dictate to all religious organizations what they will and will
not do in the area of birth control pills and abortion. When the administration
took notice of the political problems which were developing they changed
tactics but after all they are only beginning “to rule”. The president goes on worldwide TV and
declares that that’s O.K. and by his orders the insurance companies will have
to provide this. After all according to the President and his HHS (Health and
Human Services) Secretary, there is no cost it is free.
The
Telegraph has
ignored this administration’s willingness to ignore the law. Examples are the
bankruptcy laws which were cast aside in the takeover of General Motors and
Chrysler. They ignored the dirty deals and back door operations used by this
administration and the leading Democratic Senators in order to pass the
so-called Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), And God
forbid that they inform the people of middle Georgia about the contempt of
court citations issued to this administration.
There have been more lies, deceit
and dishonesty coming out of this administration than any administration since
the Nixon Administration. The Telegraph
has made it a point to ignore it all.
There is a
sharp contrast with the way The Telegraph
treated Bill Clinton and Herman Cain. It clearly shows a systemic problem at The Telegraph which has existed over the
years. No one seems to care.
On January
23, 1992, the publication Star broke
the story of Gennifer Flowers and Bill Clinton’s 12-year affair. The Telegraph immediately joined others
in the media including Georgia Public
Broadcasting to form a circle around Clinton and protect him.
A mere
five days later on January 28, 1992 The
Telegraph made their position crystal clear. They issued their instructions
to the people of middle Georgia in an editorial titled “Can one sleazy story
destroy Clinton candidacy?” Their instructions to the people were “Let’s be
very careful and very specific in judging Gov. Bill Clinton, a leading
Democratic presidential candidate in trouble with his past.”
Then in
the second paragraph they absolved Clinton of all responsibility as they
assured the people that; “His problems stems from allegations in a sleazy
supermarket tabloid that pays big money for its muck.”
However,
they have never explained the difference between “…a sleazy supermarket tabloid
that pays big money for its muck.” and a sleazy newspaper “that charges big
money for its muck.”
The Telegraph like most others in the media spent the next eight years
defending Clinton and his administration. Even after people went to jail, they
ignored the facts and when they endorsed him for a second time all of the
deceit, dishonesty, lies and crimes were passed off by The Telegraph in their 1996 endorsement as a case where
"Sometimes it seemed the inmates had taken over the asylum. In taking responsibility for his own
household, Clinton often has been put in the untenable position of admitting
either incompetence or skullduggery." The facts were out. The
“incompetence or skullduggery” was on the part of The Telegraph!
In their
endorsement The Telegraph completely
ignored the incompetence and callousness demonstrated by the Clinton
Administration on February 28, 1993 – “when dozens of federal law enforcement
agents in full combat gear stormed the Branch Davidian compound” – which
resulted in 74 brutal deaths including men, women and children. Dick J. Reavis
tells us in his book “The Ashes of Waco” that President Bill Clinton’s response
was that “… Some religious fanatics murdered themselves.”
Georgia Public Broadcasting recently demonstrated their continuing
aversion to honest and ethical journalism with their “Clinton” on the American
Experience. After gathering together clips of former Clinton aids, employees
and sympathetic journalist, some who served in the Clinton Administration they
produced one of the biggest scam jobs on Clinton we have seen.
They all
come together to film a whitewash of the Clinton administration which they have
promoted as history. This is truly a whitewash deliberately designed to portray
Clinton as a sympathetic victim. Georgia
Public Broadcasting even used the pathetic and despicable individual former
Senator Trent Lott and his “I just can’t understand it”. However they did not
point out he was a large part of the problem. He stood firmly behind the late
Senator Ted Stevens when the Republicans decided this was a “…dog and pony
show…” in lieu of a trial on the evidence and the merits! In fact Republican
Senator Ted Stevens informed Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee that “Henry, I don’t care if you prove he raped a woman and then
stood up and shot her dead – you are not going to get sixty-seven votes.”
Reasonable people may conclude Stevens’ remarks sound eerily like Saddam’s
Iraq. (“Sellout” by David P Shippers Chief investigative Counsel for the Clinton
Impeachment and Alan P. Henry) It might be noted Mr. Shippers was a lifelong
democrat.
Georgia
Public Broadcasting also mentions
both the 1996 and 2000 election but failed to point out how President Clinton
and Vice President Al Gore laid carefully plans to steal both. Clinton even
placed Vice-president Gore in charge of the failed theft. It was known as CUSA
(Citizenship United States of America). This is covered in chapter four of Mr.
Shippers’ book “Sellout” and confirmed by former congressman James E. Rogan in
his book “Catching our Flag”.
Mr.
Shippers tells us what happen to all of the documentation of the evidence they
were not allowed to us in appendix A of his book. He tells us that;
“In making our case in the Senate
trial, we were limited to the
evidence from the Independent
Counsel’s referral that had already
been made public. Unfortunately, a
great deal of evidentiary material
was received in Executive Session and
will remain under seal for
fifty
years unless the House Judiciary committee releases it. Also
excluded
from the Senate trial was evidence my staff and I compiled
in
the course of independent investigations.”
It is also
interesting to note that no one at The
Telegraph we talked too had ever heard of CUSA and the attempt by the
Clinton Administration to steal the 1996 and 2000 elections. In the 2000
election they were too busy painting the Republicans and the United States
Supreme Court as the thieves to take note of anything else. It was five years
after the election before The Telegraph
would even allow the premises that it was as honest an election as possible to
darken the pages of the paper. Their problem seemed to be their bigotry.
We might
note here that it was The Telegraph’s
Editorial Page Editor, the late Ron Woodgeard that pointed out the bigotry of
his fellow staff members.
Ron Woodgeard in a column he wrote when he was
editorial page editor for The Telegraph
tells us about the bigoted actions of “my liberal colleagues.” He explains that
“Whenever I would utter an unflattering truth about Mr. Clinton…” I would be
“…dismissed as a Clinton hater.” He tells us how “Being labeled a hater of
persons puts one in a defensive posture.” Woodgeard then goes on to explain
that: “The effect is often calculated by the accuser, of course. It’s intended
to place you on the defensive, to generate doubt and to divert the discussion
from the issue at hand.” We ask if this
is not a perfect description of bigotry, will someone please explain to us
exactly what is.
When we
called about the impeachment and the trial of Clinton the late Phil Dodson from
The Telegraph informed us that
screamed into the phone no one could tell him anything he didn’t know about the
“Impeachment” but then admitted he did not know who “David P. Schippers” was.
We have to ask, is this arrogance or what?
There are
enough historical documents to convince open minded people that what Georgia Public Broadcasting did with
their film “Clinton” is a farce and we think intentionally so.
In fact
reasonable people may conclude that the business model of both Georgia Public Broadcasting and The Telegraph is set up to deceive the
people they say they serve.
It is our
understanding that Dr. Godsey is the author of a book titled “When We Talk
About God”, Let's Be Honest”. We have noted a book review on-line that tells
us; “Godsey denies every major tenet of
Biblical Christianity. He denies the deity of Christ. He denies substitutionary
atonement. He denies the inspiration of Scripture. This is essentially a
redefining of God, Christ, and Christianity.”
We have an
uncanny feeling that this is what is about to happen to “honest and ethical
journalism” in middle Georgia. We cannot imagine anyone from The Telegraph or Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation having any
objections what-so-ever and we have to wonder about Mercer University. Again, time will tell. We can honestly
offer the opinion that The Telegraph and
Georgia Public Broadcasting have
already taken huge steps in this direction.
In the
case of The Telegraph which promotes
the paper as “middle Georgia’s newspaper” and which people pay good money for
they have a right to expect honest and ethical journalism. They also have a
right to expect facts and dependable news, not a political agenda.
Time will
tell us what is happening at the “journalism partnership”. They cannot expect
people to believe this is an endeavor to teach honest and ethical journalism if
they see The Telegraph continue with
what many people consider their deceit and deception.
We feel
this endeavor is more likely to turn out to be a move towards the Soros and
Goebbels school of journalism than anything else. Perhaps this is who Beverly
Blake is referring to when she refers to “professional journalist”. We have
noticed that the words “honest and ethical journalism” are not mentioned
anywhere!
Again we
will be more than glad to consider anything from anyone who can show us where we
are wrong. In fact we wish we were wrong.
Have a
beautiful day.
1-478-3604-8162
CC:
William D. Underwood
Teya Ryan
Mercer University President GPB
R. Kirby Godsey George
McCanless
Mercer Chancellor President and
Publisher
The Telegraph
Beverly Blake
Knight Foundation
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