News allows no time for conspiracies
In the process of gathering and publishing news, occasionally people give us too much credit. Though they might smile when they say it, they sometimes share the opinion that we manipulate facts to serve whatever they theorize our purpose to be.
They’re wrong. We just make mistakes.
It takes all our efforts to get the facts and put them in the newspaper. We have neither the time, energy, nor inclination to add manipulation of facts to our schedules.
Sometimes we’re not the only ones who make mistakes.
Such was the case in a front page story in The Enterprise on Oct. 8. The story said Beaumont residents in an average house with a valuation of $102,000 could expect an almost $200 bump in property taxes this year.
In actuality, as we said in a rare but necessary front-page correction on Oct. 9, taxes on such a house are expected to drop about $12.
A caller to The Enterprise, very nicely, raised the concern that the story could have in impact on passage of the proposed Beaumont ISD bond issue. That was a cause of great concern among editors. If we have anything to say for or against the bond issue it would be on our opinions pages, not on our front page and not in a news story.
In fact, a printed sheet of paper from the office of Miriam Johnson, Jefferson County Tax Assessor/Collector, was the basis of our figures. The sheet noted a tax increase of $132.47. Those figures were included in a graphic with the continued portion of the story on page 4A Oct. 8.
The figures compiled by Johnson’s office, and supplied to The Enterprise, were based on the appraised market value of $102,000, not the capped value of $95,700. It wasn’t a conspiracy, it was a mistake.
The remainder of the difference in the story and the graphic were based on an editor’s request of the reporter to include costs for water, sewer and trash collection services, which brought that $132 up to a bit more than $178. An editor then rounded the number up further to almost $200 and rewrote the sentence, incorrectly making it sound as though the entire amount was a tax increase.
None of the mistakes in the story were made by the reporter and none were the result of a conspiracy . . . real or imagined.
They’re wrong. We just make mistakes.
It takes all our efforts to get the facts and put them in the newspaper. We have neither the time, energy, nor inclination to add manipulation of facts to our schedules.
Sometimes we’re not the only ones who make mistakes.
Such was the case in a front page story in The Enterprise on Oct. 8. The story said Beaumont residents in an average house with a valuation of $102,000 could expect an almost $200 bump in property taxes this year.
In actuality, as we said in a rare but necessary front-page correction on Oct. 9, taxes on such a house are expected to drop about $12.
A caller to The Enterprise, very nicely, raised the concern that the story could have in impact on passage of the proposed Beaumont ISD bond issue. That was a cause of great concern among editors. If we have anything to say for or against the bond issue it would be on our opinions pages, not on our front page and not in a news story.
In fact, a printed sheet of paper from the office of Miriam Johnson, Jefferson County Tax Assessor/Collector, was the basis of our figures. The sheet noted a tax increase of $132.47. Those figures were included in a graphic with the continued portion of the story on page 4A Oct. 8.
The figures compiled by Johnson’s office, and supplied to The Enterprise, were based on the appraised market value of $102,000, not the capped value of $95,700. It wasn’t a conspiracy, it was a mistake.
The remainder of the difference in the story and the graphic were based on an editor’s request of the reporter to include costs for water, sewer and trash collection services, which brought that $132 up to a bit more than $178. An editor then rounded the number up further to almost $200 and rewrote the sentence, incorrectly making it sound as though the entire amount was a tax increase.
None of the mistakes in the story were made by the reporter and none were the result of a conspiracy . . . real or imagined.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 3:52 PM
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