Why Can’t The Press Tell The Whole Story To The Public?
Letter to the Fernley Leader Editor

The following letter was sent to the editor of the Fernley Leader newspaper.
Copies of the following letter were also sent to Lahontan Valley News and FernleyNews.com on November 24, 2009.

For the past few years, the local Fernley “Press” seems to have an agenda against some current and former City of Fernley staff. As an example, the article in the 11/18/09 edition of the Fernley Leader is very odd and missing a lot of important information.

Early this year Sandra Mathewson filed many complaints with the Nevada Ethics Commission and the local press reported all of the charges, implying wrongdoing by current and former City of Fernley staff. The 11/18/09 article titled - Public Works Director Cleared of Ethics Charges - was missing 2/3 (or 67%) of the information. On 11/12/09 the Ethics Commission addressed three cases, not one. During the set of hearings they combined all three cases to be completed that day. The Ethics Commission determined, by a unanimous vote, that ALL allegations made by Sandra Mathewson against the former City Manager, Gary Bacock, former City Treasurer/Finance Director, Bonnie Duke, and current Public Works Director, Lowell Patton, were NOT violations of Ethics laws. Regarding Ms. Mathewson’s complaint about the December 2008 mileage claim of the City Manager, the Commission concluded by a unanimous vote that the mileage claim was NOT an ethical issue for the Ethics Commission action, it was a contract issue between the City and the contract employee. Did the local Editor miss this important information or intentionally not report the information?

When the press reports charges against public employees and reports all of the allegations, why don’t they fully report the result? It seems that the press would rather try to destroy personal reputations than correct the record (or to correct their mistakes). A few months ago the Ethics Commission dismissed over 50 other frivolous charges against City employees and yet the article to describe the dismissal was misleading, did not contain the primary facts, and there were also inaccurate quotes from City staff.

With the above facts, is the reporting intentional bias? Paul Harvey (a great man) used to say “now you’ve heard the rest of the story”. Why can’t you (the “Press”) report the whole truth or “the rest of the story” for the public?

Sincerely, Gary Bacock

cc: Reno Gazette Journal Editor