Chuck Welch Does What All Good Investigative Reporters Should
Wednesday night I published an article on Lakeland Local. I was told an office had discovered an advertisement that made it appear a candidate for Lakeland City Commission had his home for sale. On Thursday, the candidate objected to the article. I asked for answers or comment from the candidate. Though I was confident in the accuracy of the article, I offered to hold the article from display while he readied a response. I asked for a response by an 8am deadline.
I received no return calls or emails. I reinstated the article this morning.
The following is for readers who would like to see the process both before and after publication:
via Lakeland Local News and Info from Lakeland Florida » Blog Archive » Final Word on This Ol’ House.
Chuck refuses to get punked by a politician and brings the honor back to reporting. That’s not to say that reporters aren’t honorable as a rule, but there have been too many reporters throwing out fluff and not bringing the public enough substantial reporting. By explaining the processes he used to bring the article to us, he gives the reader a full version of events and of his reporting — and basically makes James Goetz show us how much of a useless fool he really is. If he’s this unresponsive to a reporter about a serious issue, we can expect him to be far less responsive to the general public if he gets elected.
It’s reporting like this that makes or breaks political campaigns and careers, and Chuck Welch puts his community above the politics. Well done, Chuck.
Big ups to LakelandLocal.com.
Update 20091014: Has Goetz resigned the campaign?
