At face value, it didn't merit a story.
As he has been since late winter, Auburn's city manager was working this past week, and he told local reporters he intended to stay in his job for the foreseeable future. He's not planning to leave. Nothing was changing.
But the reason we chose to report on Mark Palesh's unaltered employment status was to clarify a rapid circulation of rumors, both in city hall and in the community, that he was resigning. We actually received an anonymous call Thursday morning that he was turning in his resignation as the caller was speaking to us.
We obviously weren't the only news organization to get this “tip.” A flurry of phone calls from reporters in the region - including a Syracuse television station - soon followed.
Just about everyone at city hall whom our reporter spoke to on Thursday had heard the rumor but didn't know if it was true.
We finally caught up with Palesh a few hours later, and he put the rumor to rest. He wasn't quitting, and, yes, he had heard all the buzz himself.
Where the rumor got started may never be known. Palesh shared his thoughts on who did it. That person denied being the source, saying she heard from someone else but never told another soul. Who knows where the person she cited got his information?
But that's how the rumor mill runs.
As a general rule, journalists are not in the business of reporting rumors. We hear plenty of them and check them out. When they're proven to be unfounded, we usually let it alone. There's always a danger in reporting that a rumor is false, you still risk giving it credibility just by mentioning it.
We felt this case involving the city manager was different for a couple of reasons. Chief among them was how quickly word was spreading. It also involved one of the most important government officials in the community.
We felt it was our obligation, as a news organization, to put out the facts that we had gathered in an effort to explain was happening. If we hadn't, my guess is a lot of people would be falsely thinking that Palesh is no longer working at city hall.
We did make the decision to keep the story off the front page largely because, in the end, nothing had really changed. But to completely ignore what transpired at city hall on Thursday would have been a disservice.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Saturdays in
The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231
or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
But the reason we chose to report on Mark Palesh's unaltered employment status was to clarify a rapid circulation of rumors, both in city hall and in the community, that he was resigning. We actually received an anonymous call Thursday morning that he was turning in his resignation as the caller was speaking to us.
We obviously weren't the only news organization to get this “tip.” A flurry of phone calls from reporters in the region - including a Syracuse television station - soon followed.
Just about everyone at city hall whom our reporter spoke to on Thursday had heard the rumor but didn't know if it was true.
We finally caught up with Palesh a few hours later, and he put the rumor to rest. He wasn't quitting, and, yes, he had heard all the buzz himself.
Where the rumor got started may never be known. Palesh shared his thoughts on who did it. That person denied being the source, saying she heard from someone else but never told another soul. Who knows where the person she cited got his information?
But that's how the rumor mill runs.
As a general rule, journalists are not in the business of reporting rumors. We hear plenty of them and check them out. When they're proven to be unfounded, we usually let it alone. There's always a danger in reporting that a rumor is false, you still risk giving it credibility just by mentioning it.
We felt this case involving the city manager was different for a couple of reasons. Chief among them was how quickly word was spreading. It also involved one of the most important government officials in the community.
We felt it was our obligation, as a news organization, to put out the facts that we had gathered in an effort to explain was happening. If we hadn't, my guess is a lot of people would be falsely thinking that Palesh is no longer working at city hall.
We did make the decision to keep the story off the front page largely because, in the end, nothing had really changed. But to completely ignore what transpired at city hall on Thursday would have been a disservice.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Saturdays in
The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231
or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
The Citizens' Say
There are 2 comment(s)
hillbilly wrote on Oct 16, 2007 9:59 AM:
Gloria wrote on Oct 14, 2007 7:05 AM: