Caller-Times Editor: "We Got the Story First... By Gaining the Trust of Our Sources"
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Stephen Spruiell Reporting
Right Wing Dad e-mailed to draw my attention to this column by Corpus Christi Caller-Times Vice President and Editor Libby Averyt (free reg. req.):
<<< Our own Caller-Times reporters were first with the story that Cheney had accidentally shot Austin attorney Harry Whittington during a quail hunt in Kenedy County.
We broke the national story at 1:48 p.m. Sunday with an e-mail alert and a story on our Web site Caller.com, 48 minutes before the Associated Press moved anything on the story and a full hour before CNN issued an e-mail alert.
We got the story the way dedicated journalists have tracked down news for years - through strong, consistent building of sources and good, old-fashioned reporting. [...]
Because of the Armstrong family's long-standing professional relationship with reporter Jaime Powell, Katharine Armstrong called Powell around 8 a.m. Sunday and left voice mail messages to return the call. Powell, who was in Austin, did not immediately receive the messages. [...]
Once in the newsroom, Powell spoke to Armstrong again and said she wanted to talk with the vice president, whom she had met last year at the funeral of Katharine Armstrong's father, Tobin. Cheney came to the phone and briefly spoke with Powell - so far his only public comment on the matter. [...]
"You had a relationship with my father," Armstrong told Powell. "You and I had a relationship and that relationship had grown stronger after my father's death, and my family was comfortable with calling the hometown newspaper."
Maybe it's the pride in my staff talking, but I believe the White House press corps is whining just a bit because this news came first through a local daily newspaper's Web site and not following a mass press briefing thousands of miles away from the accident.
We got the story first by consistently working hard and professionally and gaining the trust of our sources. And because we did, the rest of the world got the story, too.
"We knew we needed to make it public," Armstrong told Powell. "It was a private weekend hosted by a private family, and we were comfortable calling the hometown paper and you. I trust you." >>>
Averyt is exactly right. Cheney and his friends, the Armstrongs, went through the local press because they did not trust the White House press corps to break the news in a professional and responsible manner.
After all, would you trust this man with such a sensitive story?
exposetheleft.com
How about this guy?
michellemalkin.com
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