« I Wanted to Be the Frist to Tell You | Main | When You Get Time »
December 01, 2006
I Admit To Writing A Story About Norris
I just didn't get it published before the eye-in-the-sky road tax story morphed into a tale about a newspaper and a couple of awkward moments with its readers -- not to mention their stories' subjects.
Information travels fast around here, as does misinformation. I would have been just as surprised as some other bloggers had I simply found the time to clean up a couple of sentences and click Publish. Then again, I'd have had a lot fewer of you in need of an apology. It's funny: my opening sentence began "Thanks to my trusted informants in the blogosphere...." The point I'm trying to make by revealing that is that, in the vast majority of cases, bloggers (and reporters) do get it right.
Mistakes are made, but to recover from them most thoroughly, one must do what several have already had the opportunity and wherewithal to do in this case: own up, apologize, correct the facts, and move on. I realize that's easier for me to say because I'm sitting over here without having been on the bandwagon (that you could see); but you can ask my editor. I was fired up about this idea and had put some time into articulating a measured but incisive response.
For what it's worth, based on the limited research I was able to do, there is a story here, but perhaps it should be told in Oregon first, where they really are testing a GPS-enabled user fee system. I don't know which is worse, that or the fact that the US Department of Transportation is who's shopping this scheme around to whatever state will buy. It is a questionable practice for the federal government to proactively foment legislative initiatives at the state level, and it is particularly unpalatable for them to do so by waving sackfuls of grant money under the noses of cash-jonesed state agents. But it is downright despicable when it involves imposing unthinkable restrictions on freedom as a by-product.
The lesson here for all is: keep a sharp lookout. Everywhere.
News | By joe lance | 11:15 PM