Northern View publisher Todd Hamilton has finally ended his paper's silence, speaking out after a social media storm that was generated after the Sunday night coverage of the massive waterfront fire in Prince Rupert by the local paper.
The paper's latest talking points on what became a self created controversy featuring themselves, comes to your doorstep tonight for those who get home delivery; available on line from the Northern View website here.
The calls for an apology came quickly following the original story of Sunday, a version which originally had made note of speculation that the CN roundhouse fire had ties to the Wet'suwet'en protests.
The story then requiring three re-writes before the weekly paper found its final theme.
As we noted on Monday, by the time that they settled on that final version, the heat had already reached the point that they had closed off comments to their website; while at the same time reposting enough new versions of their story to deflect any of the past criticism far down their Facebook timeline.
Mostly it seems the new narrative from the editorial titled "Addressing the over-heated elephant in the room" takes the tack as to how the weekly paper was only reflecting the commentary that they seemingly overheard while at the fire scene.
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| Northern View publisher Todd Hamilton from Linked In |
The publisher somehow oblivious to the large megaphone that they would provide to that speculation, by using it as an element of their initial attempts at the story.
In amidst the word salad of apology, came as close as it will get it seems, to an admission that they perhaps made an error, cloaked in the context that it wasn't the paper, but rather the readers who may have mis-interpreted their words.
"However, in retrospect, within a calmer context, it was not a good choice for a supplementary headline. Choosing those words to be published, we allowed some readers to infer that since there was “no word,” there may indeed be suspicion of a link between the protests and the blaze ...
For that, we stand corrected, and offer an apology to our readers, and anyone who took offence at wording that was shaped literally in the heat of reporting a major story."
The rest of the editorial however morphs into a bit of marketing for the local paper including a somewhat puzzling statement from Mr. Hamilton who declared the paper to be a leading publication.
A rather curious description for a news organization which barely has any coverage of City Hall developments, or notes from the School District and at times one which only seems to notice that we have an MLA In Victoria when the advertising cheques roll in.
What's unfortunate is that instead of delivering a thoughtful piece reflecting on the responsibility of a local newspaper and the impact that its words may have on a community; the publisher chose to use his piece as a vehicle for a pat on the back.
Noting as to how journalists diligently work on our behalf in order to debunk mis-information and deliver ... wait for it ... "facts".
Two elements of the craft that the weekly paper didn't channel all that well on Sunday.
As it looks, the editorial from Mr. Hamilton would appear to be their final word on the topic
And as was the case with the original story of Sunday and the subsequent attempts to spin it in a different direction, the weekly paper is taking no comments on their latest work.
Time will tell if the " apology" will stamp out the fire that the weekly paper created, something that will play out in the days and weeks to come.
On Tuesday prior to the publishers recollections of the controversy, City Councillor Reid-Skelton Morven was still calling for action, having contacted Senior Black Press officials and posting his own link for those in the community who wish to take their own action.
Whether he and the many others who weighed in on the topic since Monday are satisfied by the Northern View's apology, will probably determine the volume of e-mail that the media council will receive.
Update 3:00 PM: Mid afternoon Thursday, a Todd Hamilton authored story was posted to the Northern View website making note of a decision from the National News Media Council.
The voluntary, self-regulatory body had reviewed a complaint noted as 2020-18 Beatty v NorthernView, rendering a decision that considers the matter resolved due to corrective action.
For more items of interest on the media in the Northwest see our archive page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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