Addendum re: CNN copy of L.A.Times story about ULBI
Does everyone remember the L.A.Times story a month or two ago by this same author, which was clearly hyping specifically one company, ULBI? Many here speculated that the author's poor journalism could be explained by his laziness, and that after having seen some PR fluff by ULBI, he went to Greg Smith (ULBI) as his sole information source, who told him about *every* other manufacturer except Valence; and then the author (Lee Dye) just wrote his freelance article based only on that, without doing any additional research or corroboration.
Others here speculated that the author was really just a hack working for ULBI, writing a 'story' for the Times that was really just PR for ULBI.
Well, here we go again. Is this CNN story a pickup of a NEW article by this same 'Lee Dye' in the L.A.Times? It doesn't say, but it has new statements and content that were not part of the previous story. So it looks like Mr. Dye is busy again.
I would like everyone here to know that after the previous incident, I emailed the author Lee Dye directly, informing of his biased information source, and filling in numerous details about Valence.
I received an email reply from Mr. Dye, wherein he thanked me for my input, and said he would file my information away, "in case I ever revisit this topic again." It looks in retrospect like he isn't actually concerned about balanced journalism, as he isn't interested in quoting anyone but Mr. Smith of ULBI, or mentioning anything about other competitors (VLNC), who he knows full well may be beyond ULBI in both their research and production capabilities. He has been so advised, and acknowledged such.
The speculation that Mr. Lee Dye is indeed promoting ULBI, while pretending to be a neutral journalist, may sadly be closer to the truth.
That this obvious PR gets picked up by the national media and spun out to the world as if it is the whole story ... well, are we surprised? Same as what happened with the Barrons article in January.
Where's that Paul Harvey guy? Sure would be nice to have someone else tell 'the REST of the story' for a change... |
