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SPECIAL NOTE on Sillett Community Viewpoint
By JEANNY SHARP, Herald Editor and Publisher
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SPECIAL NOTE: A Feb. 2 Community Viewpoint column by Gary Sillett was based on a number of false premises about Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. An editor’s note included within the text of Sillett’s column also noted that other allegations that question Obama’s patriotism also have been shown to be false. Obama, for instance, regularly — and this has been captured on CSPAN — leads the Senate in the pledge of allegiance. An attempt to balance Sillett’s views — which do not represent the views of The Ottawa Herald — was made by including an adjacent column taking such rumors to task. This approach was taken because The Herald values an open community forum. At the same time, we have a duty to separate fact from opinion. That wasn’t done carefully enough in this case. We take our role as gatekeeper seriously and regret publishing the Sillett column that spread false information about a presidential candidate in the manner it was presented.
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