Lazy journalism proves you can never believe everything you read

As a member of the journalism community for going on 26 years now, it never ceases to amaze me what passes for credible reporting these days.

Although I'm not immune to making the odd mistake myself, as anyone who has been reading OrleansOnline.ca and this column can attest to. But there is one very simple rule that all journalists should follow and that is to never assume anything

The minute you assume something as a journalist, chances are you'll end up having to print a correction. I bring this up because I became the victim of a faulty assumption this past week.

In the current edition of the Orleans Star there's a picture of me sitting on stage during the opening ceremonies of the Greater Orleans Canada Day Celebration on Petrie Island with a bevy of local politicians and above the picture is the headline, "It's my party and I'll invite who I want to".

Beneath the photo the caption reads: "Greater Orléans Canada Day celebrations organizer Fred Sherwin (right) sits onstage at Petrie Island along with all east-end elected officials, minus Orléans Coun. Bob Monette. Sherwin hopes to steal Monette’s seat on city council come this fall’s municipal election".

Now, most people reading this headline and caption would probably assume that I didn't invite Mr. Monette to this year's Canada Day celebration because I'm running against him.

But then again most people would probably also assume that the reporter in question would have had the professionalism and decency to at least ask the organizer in question why Mr. Monette was absent before jumping to such a conclusion, but then I already said that you should never assume anything, especially if you're a reporter.

As it turns out. the reporter never asked me why Mr. Monette wasn't there, even though at one point he was standing less then 12 feet away from me. In fact, he never asked anyone. He simply assumed that because Mr. Monette wasn't there he musn't have been invited.

If.he had of asked me, I would have told him that Mr. Monette was asked if he would help sponsor the event as he and the other east end councillors have done for the past four years, and their predecessors had done before them. I also would have told the reporter that Mr. Monette respectively declined to sponsor the event, claiming that he didn't have the money in his office budget, even though his fellow east end councillors did.

I also would have told the reporter, that a member of the board of directors e-mailed Mr. Monette twice asking him to reconsider his decision and even talked to him over phone, but to no avail. Someone who I know and trust quite well said that Mr. Monette had told him that he planned to spend the day at the cottage. I can only presume he was joking.

In the end, he told our board of directors member that he had already committed to attend a number of other events in the community and therefore couldn't make it to Petrie Island, even though the event at Petrie Island went from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

But his not being able to attend the celebration still didn't preclude him from sponsoring the event like he has done in previous years when one of the organizers wasn't running against him.

Now, I'll let you draw their own conclusions as to why Mr. Monette decided not to support this year's Canada Day celebration on Petrie Island even though it's in his ward and attracts thousands of local residents and their families. But don't for an instant think that he wasn't invited. We did everything we could to try and convince him to support the event, but he decided not to.

As for the issue of whether or not it's a conflict of interest for a candidate in the municipal election to still be the lead organizer of the event, I can only say that at no time did I use the event as a campaign platform, I was too busy running around trying to put the fires out.

If anything, the event provides a platform for the local politicians to take centre stage. In fact, the majority of people who attend the event are under the false impression that it's run by the city anyway, which it's not. It is entirely volunteer run with 80 per cent of the funding coming from public donations and private sponsorship.

Speaking of this year's event, it ranks right up there as one of the best ever despite the windy conditions during the day. The only real hiccup was in not being able to secure a midway provider. Most operators wanted to set up for the long weekend and the city would only allow them to stay for the day.

Most of the events went pretty smoothly, although the lineups for the inflatable rides were a little crazy. Next year we plan to bring even more rides for the kids.

The highlight of the day for many were the fireworks which were the best and the longest we've ever had.

I'd like to thank my fellow members of the board for their support this year including Len Goddard, Zybina Richards, Syd Davie, Marc Poirier and Angela Jellett, as well as our organizing committee which includes Rick McArthur, Louis Raymond, Andre Brisebois, Nick O'Connell and Rejean Roy.

This year's event raised nearly $7,000 for local service clubs including the Rotary Club of Orleans and the Vanier Kiwanis Club, the Myers Orleans Bengals football club and the Scouts.

In particular I would like to thank Louis Raymond and the farmers from Sarsfield and Vars for once again providing the tractor shuttles; Rick McArthur and the Myers Orleans Bengals for running the BBQ and beer tent; Zybina and her gang for organizing the Kids Tent and the Family Olympics; Judith Cane for keeping everything organized backstage; Greg Marshall and Rejean Roy for helping out with the stage; Marc Poirier for looking after the concessions and Tony O'Connell for taking care of maintenance. Also Derek, Mike Hooper, Tammy, Sean Simpson,

Thanks for a job well done guys.

(If you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred Sherwin at fsherwin@magma.ca)

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