It is not the exact same thing because, for one thing, you’ve added in a degree of separation. Delauter-Shreve-Rodgers is not the same thing as fachverwirrt-friend-friend-Peter Morris. I would expect my friend to know much more about my personality quirks than a friend of a friend. Further, it is the job of a political reporter to report on government matters, while it is not, as far as I know, your job to report on my personality quirks.
Also, you should look up “analogy”.
And no, I don’t have any evidence. Which is why I have only ever presented it as a possibility in contrast to your assertion that she simply made things up as absolute apparent fact.
I will, however note that in weighing the two possibilities: one, that Shreve and Gardner both mentioned Delauter’s involvement, so she mentioned him as well and; two, that no one mentioned Delauter, so she decided she’d just throw his name in the article for some reason, one of those strikes me as a teensy bit more likely.
“Her prior behavior?” Looking at some of the other articles about this guy, he comes across as petulant and childish. He seems to be quick to anger, so I don’t give his opinion much credit.
The article was about staff and parking concerns. Kirby was one such member with concerns. If you aren’t going to name officials, then what’s the point of the story? It helps to flesh out the article.
On the contrary, it is exactly the same. My friend of a friend actually IS Shreve. I don’t know Shreve all that well, by my friend does. And Shreve has told me some verry interesting things about you.
Since we are trusting things we heard from Shreve, you won’t mind if I share them with the group, right?
Well, after reading all the comments here, and the articles in question, I think I might actually be moving toward Peter Morris’s position.
If we look at just one statement in her original article:
[QUOTE=Original Article]
Councilman Kirby Delauter, who is also a former commissioner, has joined Shreve in concern over parking for elected officials. Gardner has reserved three parking spots at Winchester Hall for council members, since the part-time officials will rarely all turn up simultaneously.
[/QUOTE]
This is pretty clearly a statement of fact put forward by the reporter, namely, the fact that Kirby Delauter has joined Shreve in concern over parking for elected officials. HAS Kirby Delauter joined Shreve in concern? How does the reporter know that? Maybe she asked Kirby Delauter? Nope, both the reporter and Delauter agree that he never talked to her.
Maybe she heard from other people that Delauter has joined Shreve in concern over parking for elected officials? If that was the case, isn’t it good, or maybe required, reporting to attribute facts garnered to a source?
Maybe she just made it up? Why she would make something like this up for a trivial story is the only thing that holds me back from fully agreeing with Peter Morris.
Who is the friend, and what does he have to do with anything?
Are you a reporter who is under pressure from her publisher and editor to get a story done with as much detail as possible?
Are these interesting things as scandalous as Delauter’s opinion on parking? Because if your untrue thing is “fachverwirrt lives in New Jersey” I’ll be happy to correct you rather than get all bothered, which is about how controversial this particular item is.
I say again, at no point has Delauter indicated that anything she said in the article in question is untrue, despite your assertion to the contrary.
Seriously, somebody says something untrue about you. What do you say? “That isn’t true.”? Or “don’t use my name. And stop calling me.”?
You know what I asked. I’m supposed to agree to answer questions without knowing what you’re going to ask? Did you think I’m some kind of psychic or something?
What other people are using Kirby as a cite? And as a cite for what?? What he wrote? I guess what he wrote is a pretty good cite for what he wrote, if that’s what you mean.
Maybe it’s sloppy reporting. Maybe she included those references and the editors either felt they were superfluous, or it was obvious from context who provided the information. Maybe that’s sloppy editing. I don’t know.
But the idea that she randomly threw Delauter’s name into the article without it being mentioned in connection to the issue is too bizarre to countenance. Especially given that Delauter hasn’t complained about the factual content of the article.
Yeah, I don’t really get why the statement that Delauter asked for a few more parking spaces made him so angry. Was it just a control thing, that Rodgers would dare write his name again? Or does Shreve have a reputation as a loon/Nazi/babykiller, and Delauter doesn’t want his name to appear in the same article as Shreve?