KOAM led its 5 p.m. newscast with the revelation that the report contains testimony from current and former city employees about Rohr's intimidating behavior.
That should come as no surprise to the Joplin Globe since it reported on Rohr's long history of that kind of behavior in its October 10, 2004, edition, an investigation that took up a large part of page one and nearly all of an inside page. The report, done by the Globe's award-winning reporter Andy Ostmeyer was complete and was thoroughly documented. It could have served as a blueprint for what has happened to Mark Rohr and the City of Joplin.
As I noted in a post last night, the Globe had all of this information at its disposal, information that would have provided its readers with a better understanding of the events that have had the city in turmoil for the past several months.
Instead, it sat on the documents.
I have been perplexed today by the number of comments that the Globe did not sit on the documents because it printed them 10 years ago. That may make sense to those who said it, but it certainly makes no sense to me. Many Joplin residents did not live here in October 2004 and many others did not read that particular investigation. Another commenter noted that the article is available on the Globe's website. That is true, but how was anyone supposed to know enough to be looking for it.
A reader contacted me about the article and mailed it to me a couple of days ago. As I looked over the articles, I could remember reading them, but as I read them, I was amazed at how accurately they predicted what is going on in Joplin now. Accusations of intimidation and brutality, abuse of city employees, Rohr accusing those who oppose him of being corrupt, but not providing any information to back it up, even the reference to those who oppose him as being part of a "good-old-boy network.
All of this was pertinent. Whether to include it or not was a decision that was made in the Joplin Globe newsroom. That in itself, is a major part of this ongoing story.
I await your comments.
3 comments:
This just proves what we have said all along, that the Globe and its staff are no longer neutral and unbiased in its reporting. They are not to be believed in what they tell the public. The Globe needs to change staff or close there doors.
in the Loraine report he states that if someone knowingly perpetuates a lie about a public official (scearce) that they can be sued for slander or libel. Loraine was referring to carol stark
Anon @4:53 PM: That's true, but in practice it can be very hard to prove they knew they were lying.
Then again, I need to read the report.
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