This is just my opinion folks, so start with that in mind before you read on.
Today, a well known, pulitzer prize winning opinion writer used his widely circulated news forum to continue a slanderous and libelous assault on a well known public figure. The victim of this attack entered a state-wide political race he thought he could win. He miscalculated and underestimated the opposition. He was overwhelmed and brutally defeated. The battle is over, he lost. But the post-war occupation of conquered enemy territory still rages on. The victors have a foot on his neck and they will not let him up to breathe.
You know who we are talking about. Roy Moore. The Judge. I don’t support Judge Roy Moore and I did not vote for him. This opinion is not written in support of Judge Roy Moore or what he stands for. This column is written in opposition to what was done today to deceive readers by Writer John Archibald. He set out to and to undermine and attack the principles that most Conservatives and Southerners still live by and believe in. Know what I mean? Thats the one that says you are presumed innocent until you are convicted in a court of law……….
See link below if you want to read the article yourself and get the full flavor of my source of irritation.
https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/judge_rules_roy_moore_contempt.html
Read the headline. Immerse yourself in the article. Judge finds Roy Moore in contempt it leads us to believe. Fictitious article regurgitates all the hearsay and slanderous unproven allegations that were thrown around the state during the Roy Moore vs. Doug Jones political campaign as if they were proven facts. Folks, there has been no trial of Roy Moore’s reputation. There has been no fact finding. Nothing in this article is a proven fact. What is written here are bald faced allegations, rumor, and salacious gossip. All restated in the form of protected speech by a newspaper or media writer as if it were all proven and true fact.
The political campaign is over. It is bad enough that we have to suffer lies and allegations thrown around by mud slinging political opponents in the throes of a campaign. Do we now have to be treated to a form of modern journalism by a formerly respected writer turned wizard, who conjures up a phony headline, and then summons by incantation a fake trial transcript designed to infect us with the delusion that his victim has been found guilty in a court of law and he is now reporting on it?
Even today six sitting Judges in Etowah County recused themselves from current court proceedings involving Roy Moore over allegations that arose from libelous publications that circulated during the political campaign. Could it be that they were uncertain of the facts and took the high road out? Not Mr. Archibald, he dives right in and drove on.
A citizen who writes the kind of hit piece that appeared online today may be found guilty of slander or libel in a court of law for publishing such a thing but if you are a “journalist” writing about a “public figure” you seem to have license to say just about anything, with impunity. This sort of thing also happens when a reckless and irresponsible media reporter decides to swallow the one-sided argument of a Plaintiff attorney and print one version of a case in a newspaper before a jury is ever seated, or a verdict is reached.
Why wait until there is an indictment, an arrest, an evidentiary hearing to test the evidence, an opening argument by both sides at a trial, presentation of the evidence, closing arguments, jury deliberations, and a jury verdict before printing a story in a news paper representing the facts of the case? The facts are not facts until a Judge and Jury decide they are. Not up to a reporter or a journalist. It is a simple and inconvenient truth. You could do some serious and irreperable damage to a person’s reputation that way.
If you choose the route traveled today the public reads the view that the writer or publisher wants you to consume and believe. Damn the facts. The writer/publisher is protected. Impunity. Freedom of Press. That means he/she can get away with it these days without fear of a courtroom if you have the magic shield called “Press Credentials”.
So Mr. Archibald, I don’t care if you are irritated by Roy Moore and want him to disappear out of public view. He is entitled to spend his money and defend his reputation in a court of law. Win or lose. I don’t have to watch. I also don’t need a sanctimonious journalist inventing a fake headline and a phony story to disrespect a man who has already been cast aside by the voters of Alabama. 15 yards for piling on after the whistle has blown is poor sportsmanship old boy.
The mountaintop of hypocrisy in this article is the ending signature “Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged” ? Where will Mr. Archibald be standing when the roll is called?
That’s my opinion and I am sticking to it. Pardon me while I go find my press credentials.
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This is an Editorial Opinion and expresses the Writer’s views. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and may not be the views of The Bibb Voice. Comments are welcome. Scroll to the bottom of this page if you would like to leave your thoughts or send a message to the writer.
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UPDATE 8/1/2018: The Anniston Star comes to the defense of Roy Moore after Moore is duped by Sacha Baron Cohen. See link below:
