Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

A DIFFERING VIEW: Web reporting abides by journalism’s standards

The Rocky

Published February 6, 2008 at 5:05 p.m.
Updated February 6, 2008 at 5:15 p.m.

Text size  

More Letters to the Editor

More stories »

As managing editor of Face The State, I’m responding to John Temple’s Feb. 2 column, “A cautionary tale for the Web era.” That column implied that our news and opinion Web site, FaceTheState.com, rushed to publish a story about a lawmaker without appropriate safeguards. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Like the Rocky’s reporter, Face The State learned about the allegations more than a week before we ran the story. Originally, the woman making the accusations did not wish to publicize them. We investigated, found the allegations credible, but deferred to the woman’s desire to avoid press attention. We ran our report only after obtaining permission from our source. The report was factually identical to other print and television accounts.

Our report at FaceTheState.com added to a long list of accurate news reports about Colorado politics. We uncovered Rep. Mike Merrifield’s statements calling for a “special place in hell” for charter-school supporters and Gov. Bill Ritter’s back-room negotiations with labor unions. We were the first to report Ritter’s plans to issue a collective-bargaining executive order, a month before he did so.

Our Web site has been attacked again and again for breaking these stories. We’ve faced plenty of official hostility as well, including defending a lawsuit initiated by Ritter and Rep. Rosemary Marshall to keep government documents secret. We clearly label our news stories as “reports,” and our opinion pieces as “editorials.” For these reasons it’s particularly unfortunate that Temple considers our accurate reporting a “cautionary tale.”

The Internet no doubt contains its share of inaccuracies and untruths, on blogs and elsewhere. But as a news organization publishing on both the Web and radio, we are proud of our track record of reporting accurate and timely information.

Readers and members of the media should judge our stories by their content, and certainly not discount our reporting because of its medium of delivery.

Brad Jones is managing editor of FaceTheState.com.

Comments

  • February 6, 2008

    8:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Old_Grouch writes:

    Yeah! Sure! But you don't have the comic pages to make bothering with your site at least worth a look-see at times, as the paper itself does. And the endless round of pop-ups on the Internet aren't nearly as easy to bypass as the ads are in your parent morning advertising throw-away for Metro-Denver.

  • February 8, 2008

    9:13 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

    Face the State is in the early stages of becoming something great. Obviously the monopolies despise the competition.