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Shadow Warriors: Eye vs Eye

By Antonio D. French

Filed Thursday, September 06, 2007 at 9:14 AM

"Fight, fight!," as we used to say on the school yard.

The Political Eye column of the St. Louis American newspaper and MayorSlay.com, a creation of Public Eye, Inc., the PR firm of Richard Callow, have gone to the mattresses.

Last week, the American reported that actions by the city's public safety director, Sam Simon, had possibly left city firefighters in a dangerous position by ordering that all Fire Department airmasks be removed by Aug. 1 without notifying Fire Chief Sherman George.

A few days after the report was published, Mayor Francis Slay's anonymously-written blog, MayorSlay.com, called the story "bad reporting" and outlined its own version of events:
Five years ago, two St. Louis firefighters died tragically. Their widows filed suit against the manufacturer and distributor of some of the Department’s equipment. In the course of the first trial, testimony suggested that equipment might be defective. Both widows are convinced the equipment contributed to the deaths of their husbands.

Armed with that information, Simon wrote to the distributor asking for a $1.2 million refund. The distributor responded by offering to remove the equipment, but without refunding any cash. Simon declined. At no point did Simon ever order the equipment removed.

That’s the simple chronology that "supports" the baseless assertion by some partisans that Simon’s actions were improper.
Bad reporting? "Surely it is not 'bad' reporting to report a 'demand' as a demand. That is simply letting grammar be one's guide in interpreting the English language," answered today's anonymously-written Political Eye column.
In another post on mayorslay.com, using the same pompous tone, Slay-Rainford-Callow-Rhode write, “One of the challenging things about the current state of news reporting is the mix of rumor and fact that gets churned around in blogs, talk shows and boards - and then re-reported on mainstream TV and radio.”

It should be evident from Simon’s signed letter and the statement of the "facts" on mayorslay.com that the mayor’s own blog is guilty of mixing rumor and outright lies with whatever facts it churns around - and, unfortunately, the mayor’s version of events too often gets "re-reported on mainstream TV and radio," whether or not it is based in fact.
Touché.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

since virvus jones quit writing for "the eye" it has fallen by the wayside. that column is now about as widely read as the argus newspaper. too bad

9/06/2007 11:43 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ant,
you are joking right? You and the American and becoming a laughing stock. Do you really believe that the Mayor wants to put all firefighters at risk to die of smoke inhalation? Seriously, I hope you are kidding. And, you need to stop referring to yourself as a reporter, you give real reporters a bad name by doing that. (of course most reporters in St. Louis are pretty bad already)

As to the fire dept. why isn't Chief George fired already. He is not the King of the Fire Department, he works for the Mayor. If I were Slay (and I thank goodness I am not) I would have fired the incompetent Chief years ago.

Between you (Ant) and the Chief I am not surprised people think StL City is screwed up.

Ant, go back to waiting tables or some other job where you are not such a joke.

9/06/2007 1:12 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Antonio,

It seems you touched a nerve!

9/06/2007 3:14 PM

 
Blogger Matthew said...

i'd like to remind anonymous flammers that just because you don't like what you hear doesn't mean it's not reporting the facts. the truth hurts. touche antonio.

9/06/2007 3:59 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry but I am beginning think the second comment may have some valid points. I do wish they would learn how to better express themselves though.

The fact is, twisting something to fill a politcal need is not helpful to anyone but the person doing the twisting. Saying over and over again that something is true does not make it true unless you can provide some facts to back it up. Mr. French I do not know what your political motives are but here it is quite obvious you have some sort of axe to grind. I am saddened at what passes for "journalism" today. As to poster #2...calm down.

9/06/2007 4:37 PM

 

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