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Photo credit: John Wilson/ksvac.info
As of this writing, the Wichita City Council is holding it's weekly Tuesday meeting and if all goes as planned Wichita's last battle of the Vietnam war will finally be brought to an end.
The council is expected to approve a compromise that lets the Vietnamese community have their much wanted memorial to the South Vietnamese army but also maintains the integrity of Veterans Memorial Park.
In Saturday's column I outlined the proposal and local veterans' desires to see the issue resolved with mutual respect from both sides. Despite the efforts of Jim Skelton and Janet Miller to scuttle any compromise and shove through their personal plan it appears common sense prevailed and common ground was found.
A salute to John Wilson, Dennis Scuffham, Linda Kirby, Terry Houck and all the other vets of the Kansas Veterans Action Committee who stepped up and stopped the Miller/Skelton express in its tracks. Though yes, it's still a rarity, it does show that every once in awhile you can fight City Hall.
In the beginning the coverage was little and what was there leaned to the politically correct notion of "the vets should just shut up and let this go through". In choosing to use this column to advocate these veterans' views I knew it would be a contentious issue. But in the end the only issue that really mattered was getting their story out and letting the public decide for themselves.
As the debate continued. coverage increased and was even picked up by the AP on Saturday. And while it and Rhonda Holman's editorial in Sunday's Wichita Eagle fairly presented both sides, the old "media bias" was clearly there in other coverage. The most glaring being a story by Josh Witsman posted yesterday on ksn.com . It's an example of not just shoddy, but outright advocacy journalism that could be taught in any Journalism 101 class as "What NOT to do".
BUT, here's my real rub with Witsman and KSN. If you follow the links above on this page you see a revised story with not one mention that it has been EDITED from it's original version. Talk about bias in the media. There should at least be a notice to the reader, perhaps:
The original posting of this story contained factual errors and painted a less then objective picture, KSN apologies to the veterans and you the public and have replaced the original post with this corrected version.
Luckily for the public interest, John Wilson (one of the recipients of Witsman's poor fact checking) of ksvac.info saw the post in it's original hack form and saved it with his comments on the ksvac website. It may be viewed here: Witsman original post with Wilson commentary .
Even though I left a comment regarding the errors on the original story, not even a peep of a response from KSN management regarding the issue. If they (KSN) can have so little regard for the truth on this story, how many others have they whitewashed without telling their readers?
What should otherwise be a great day with two sides coming together in grand compromise is now marred by yet another case of journalism let down.
To contact KSN regarding their story revising without a "notice of correction":
Contact KSN
To view today's and past City Council meetings:
City Council Video
Wichita City Council home page:
Wichita City Council Home Page
For past Veterans Park Examiner coverage:
Veterans Park Column Archives
Comments
If you want to take issue with journalistic standards, you might want know that I never said any of the things you attributed to me on this blog, which you heard (at best) secondhand. When representatives of the Vietnamese community called to ask me if the meeting that was proposed by Darrell Lafew was the one being convened by the City, I simply told them it was not (after checking with the Mayor). I told them that one would be hosted by the City Manager and held at City Hall. They would be invited, as would representatives of the Veterans groups that spoke at the City Council meeting. I told the Vietnamese group that it was entirely up to them whether they attended the meeting being convened outside City Hall and/or the one being hosted at City Hall. I assure you I never said it would be "illegal" (that wouldn't have even occurred to me) and I have always been supportive of trying to work toward compromise, despite what you may have heard from others (and decided to publish).
I beg to differ Ms. Miller, more than enough heard what you said and your attitude during this whole terrible mess. All it would have taken was an ounce of respect towards the veterans that protect this country and your very own freedoms. You say you didn't "say" it, other's say different and others certainly heard it that way.
I can only hope that in the future you put a little more effort into thinking about all the citizens of Wichita vs just those you wish to support.
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