Reporter’s Notebook: Nothing but the truth
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The spread of misinformation (inaccurate information spread by mistake) and disinformation (false information spread deliberately) is nothing new in the history of humanity, but it sure seems like it’s been getting worse lately.
While my colleagues in local news media work to confirm information for stories that you may not see until later the same day or the next day, bad information is spread within seconds on social media platforms, such as Facebook and TikTok.
For example, some on TikTok were accusing Gov. Patrick Morrisey of being absent and criticizing Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce for doing nothing.
The problem is Morrisey hasn’t been absent. He was on location on July 5, on top of declaring a state of emergency and quickly dispatching the Department of Environmental Protection to begin air monitoring and other investigations into the massive fire. In the case of Joyce, the fire didn't take place within Parkersburg city limits, so beyond dispatching the Parkersburg Fire Department to assist the many first responders who helped contain the fire I’m unsure what people wanted Joyce to do.
I get it. There are many reasons people have to dislike Morrisey or Joyce, but to act like they were doing nothing was false. And when this information is pointed out, the response is to accuse media of protecting politicians.
My reporter colleagues are going to keep politicians and the business accountable as the investigation continues. We're still at the beginning of all of this. But it’s unfair to accuse reporters of “protecting politicians" for pointing out facts.
Yet, it’s likely that one TikTok account will have more views and clicks than many of the day’s pageviews on stories on a newspaper website combined. That’s because people would rather be spoon-fed content that aligns with whatever political view they have at any given moment or the bubble they choose to stay in.
For another example, it was announced last week that a company will move into the old Hino Motors facility on the outskirts of Williamstown to build electrical distribution systems for data centers. I’m assuming some of you only saw “data center” and have tuned everything else out. The same day I was covering this announcement I was already seeing people spread the rumor this was a data center when it is simply not.
Again, I get that data centers are the trendy thing to hate right now (with Flock license plate-reading cameras coming in a close second). But the old Hino facility is not proposed to be a data center. Yet, people were spreading the data center rumor despite reporting saying otherwise.
I’m finding more and more that I can walk someone through the who, what, where, how, and why and still be told my information is wrong. Someone can threaten me with a lawsuit for doing my job, while “content creators” and “influencers” can appear to say whatever they want, especially if they know what they are spreading is wrong.
Again, disinformation and misinformation is not new, but I find myself getting more discouraged by how quickly we accept bad information.
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In yet another example, my friend Amelia Knisely with West Virginia Watch had a good story nearly two weeks ago about the new conservative Washington Center for Civics, Culture and Statesmanship at West Virginia University. The new center opens this fall, but only one student has registered for courses to date, according to Knisely.
The Washington Center was established by the Republican supermajority Legislature last year, with $3 million appropriated to the center to date. It is one of several such center-right philosophical centers established at public colleges and universities across the nation.
Notably, the center’s director, Patrick Lee Miller, was appointed by Gov. Morrisey with advice from WVU, which offered Miller an annualized base salary of $215,000, plus $85,000 from the center’s budget for performance of administrative duties, taking his total salary to $300,000.
Miller can also award himself an annual merit increase up to 10% of his base salary, and a potential annual performance bonus of 10% of total annual compensation at the director’s own discretion upon certification by an Academic Council. He was also allowed to be compensated up to $10,000 for pre-approved moving expenses.
Regardless of if you are for or against the Washington Center, it is a perfectly fine journalistic enterprise to point out that a legislatively mandated center funded with $3 million in taxpayer dollars has only gained the interest of one student so far. Especially given it was only a few years ago that WVU cut more than 27 different academic programs, with more than 300 positions cut, as part of WVU’s “Academic Transformation” program to deal with a $45 million structural budget deficit.
Miller did not comment for Knisely’s story, which probably would have been helpful to provide some context on the planning for the Washington Center and probably would have softened her story. Instead, he chose to go on a friendly podcast and attack Knisely’s reporting.
“It’s like we’re just a little baby and the journalist wants to stomp all over us,” Miller told Tony Hodge. “Well, clearly because the journalist hates the idea of the Washington Center and wishes it didn’t exist.”
How on Earth does he know Knisely’s intentions? He didn’t talk to her. Instead, she’s been accused of some sort of bias merely for stating facts. Miller should have talked to her to provide context for those facts. Instead, he accuses her of stating that the Washington Center has spent $3 million (she did not) and writing a “hit piece.”
“... Although we'd be happy to be deluged with students before we have normal courses, there is nothing surprising about the enrollment in this year's "special topics" courses,” Miller said in a “missive” on the Washington Center’s website. “Few students have even heard of us yet, and there are various disincentives--soon to be removed--to taking our courses.”
Again, he could have explained all of this to Knisely and chose not to. A hostile tone probably is not going to help in recruiting additional students.