Dear Editor:
It’s been disheartening to see the Lake Oconee News give so much coverage in recent weeks to the opinions of a single noisemaking resident of Greensboro without doing its due diligence on fact-checking and following up.
Most egregious was a front-page story that ran in print on October 28 under the headline, “Bank building purchase puts the city on defense.”
This questionable top-of-the-fold story was presented as journalism but came off as one resident’s complaint with little to no follow-up by the reporter. Beyond the bank building topic, accusations were made by the main source about Festival Hall, a non-profit performing arts and events venue in downtown Greensboro.
A falsehood was quoted based on rumors about renovations to the venue concerning the mayor’s father. It was a serious accusation. And it was all bunk. The reporter never contacted the director of Festival Hall directly for comment on the story before it ran.
I know this because I’m a volunteer at the Hall, a non-profit that relies on volunteers since there is no paid staff other than the director, who routinely puts in 12-plus-hour days to bring arts and culture and an affordable events space to Lake Country (as well as providing a space for Greensboro city council meetings).
During the public comments portion at tonight’s city council meeting (12/5), this same resident protested more about Festival Hall, about how this non-profit wasn’t bringing in a profit. At the previous meeting, the resident cast personal aspersions against two longtime city employees, mentioning them by name.
LON printed an article about that meeting last week with no follow-up or contact of the employees mentioned, to the best of my knowledge.
This is a letter to the editor but I’m wondering if LON even has editors who scour copy turned in by reporters to ask for follow-ups and rewrites. Here’s hoping you do.
Blake Guthrie, Greensboro