Closed Door to Media? or Closed Door to a Non Legitimate Reporter?

In this column found in the Shopper News the "reporter" gives the false impression that the Knox County Mayor would not meet with Farmer and Former County Commission Candidate James McMillan because he had his Attorney present. However, if you will read the actual words, you will see that Knox County Mayor's spokesperson Susanne Dupes said, “This meeting is closed to the media,”. No mention of his Attorney being the reason for the closed door meeting.

What the reporter wrote is "so he brought backup – lawyer Stephanie Matheny, Tennessee Clean Water Network executive director Renee Hoyos and a reporter from the Shopper-News." What we have since discovered that the "reporter" did not disclose is that the "reporter" from the Shopper News is the one actually writing this column.

Had McMillan taken a legitimate reporter from the Shopper News like Shannon Carey or Jake Mabe the results may have been different. This particular author and "reporter" in question has a history of posting items on the liberal left blog that is closer to bathroom material than actual legitimate news reporting. Here is a tame example. Mea Culpa:I was so mad I Submitted by Bbeanster on Thu, 2006/09/07 - 6:14pm. Mea Culpa:I was so mad I don't rightly remember exactly what I did say, although the words "set up," "sandbag" and, yes, "chickenshit" do ring a bell, and I probably used the latter to describe the tactic rather than the person.

So, maybe McMillan in the future should ask prior to the meeting if everyone could agree which if any media representative they can agree on.