OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

2009-07-03

2009-07-01

2009-06-30

Agriculture

Lifestyles

SPECIAL NOTE on Sillett Community Viewpoint

By JEANNY SHARP, Herald Editor and Publisher

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.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

To post a new comment click here

Report an Offensive Comment

At www.ottawaherald.com, we are pleased to offer readers an opportunity to comment on articles. Readers are encouraged to engage in a lively, robust and civil debate -- as if comments were being submitted as verified letters for publication in print. Comments should not use names or otherwise identify private individuals or businesses. Avoid profanity and unfounded personal attacks. All comments will be subject to review before posting, but we cannot promise that readers will not find offensive or inaccurate comments. You will observe a delay between your writing a comment and its appearance on the site. Responsibility for posted statements lie with those who submit the comments, not The Ottawa Herald or www.ottawaherald.com. If you find a comment you believe to be objectionable, please report a comment by e-mail. We will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded that, in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on the Web site.

To post a new comment click here

0 comment(s)