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| The Rotten Rose |
The Pasadena Star-News hit an all-time new low today. First the intrepid Jimmy Olsen steals your story without credits then he refuses to name the lieutenant in question here. My guess is that Jimmy Olsen has been stroked by the former PIO and doesn't want to hurt a friend instead of writing the truth. What a rag!
While it is true this blog did scoop everyone else on this story, I can't get too upset about the lack of any recognition from the Star News. After all, I've cribbed from them in the past, and they have done some pretty good work from time to time. Though I do credit the PSN whenever I raid their paper for any info I use here. It seems only fair.
They also did finally mention Gourdikian's name. At least in the story's second edit, which appeared a couple of hours after their first version hit the PSN website. Which is a good thing. To do otherwise only helps to enable the Pasadena Police Department's cover-up of some pretty shocking malfeasance on the part of one of its senior officers.
An unfortunate precedent for that does exist. There is a fairly corrupt California state law that enables local governments to avoid revealing the identities of any employees they might be investigating. Obviously the hoary sachems of TheRotten Rose have used that to great advantage in covering this affair up. At least until now.
In my opinion news organizations should be doing all they can to expose any wrongdoing by our erstwhile public servants, especially when you consider the state law that allows them to conveniently hide any criminal behavior of their employees.
Playing along with this law is betraying the interests of their readers. People who, theoretically at least, are dependent upon newspapers for information. After all, public employees are vastly overcompensated, and those who make their fine lifestyles possible so horribly overtaxed.
That is, should these readers actually care. Remarkably, so very few really do. Which is also a part of the problem.
To their credit, the Star News did finally come around. Here is their final take.
The Star News expose' on yesterday's events can be linked to here.
Pasadena Now also gets on board
Local journalism made an additional great leap forward today.
The rest of that article can be accessed here.
In all fairness, and contrary to the message Pasadena Now is currently pushing, the starring role Lt. Vasken Gourdikian played in this affair was first revealed last February by the Pasadena Weekly. You can link to that here.
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