local newspaper makes jump to big-time
tommyThis morning’s Tribune brought with it a surprise. The local rag can now be mentioned in the same breath as the New York Times and USA Today.
It seems that Trib reporter Brad Smith was canned resigned. His latest story about the evils of tow trucks, and the local industry in general was displayed prominently on page one yesterday. It turns out the article was likely inspired by a recent personal experience, a journalistic no-no. Smith also manufactured his own “facts” to a) give the impression he was not there, b)garner more sympathy for those who get towed, and c) encourage more animosity toward tow truck drivers. The Tribune’s apology and Brad’s new employment status ran today, and the story has been banished to neverwasreallywrittenland. This link works no better. The St. Pete Times found out about it quickly.
When I read the story yesterday, it struck me as not quite right. After a night of “club-hopping,” especially if a friend has to park my car, I’m not going to ask about “who regulates Pete’s Towing.” But this is Tracey Sievertson. She was a reporter for Channel 28, and now runs a Media Training company. So I didn’t spend much time on it, and moved on.
I’ve had my car towed. The towing companies do have the upper hand, and charge ridiculous amounts of money to get your car back. And it’s frustrating. Enough so that I never want to park in a “no parking allowed” area ever again. And that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?
But tow trucks are not the issue. Smith used his position at the newspaper to give the towing company a hard time after Pete’s sent him and his new friends jumping through hoops, and paying big money. My guess is he was more interested in impressing his new friends than he was in screwing the wreckers or even getting a big story. But until Brad comes out and says it, we won’t really know why he wrote the story.
Brad Smith is a decent writer. But he certainly showed bad judgment submitting this story for the Tribune. Because the paper has a reputation to uphold, this simply could not be tolerated. If he had written this story as a blogger, he would not have had to lie about Sievertson’s involvement, and could have safely written the story in the first person, since he was there, and there would be no question as to his motivations.
Brad, if you read this, I invite you to use this space as an outlet for your side of the story. Email me.
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