August 2, "Deaf To The Noise"

Today is the ninth anniversary of the actual termination of my RMA Pediatrics contract (after, figuratively speaking, I was gagged and bound and stuffed in a windowless closet for six months . . . and forced to watch my Pediatric practice in Asheboro be absorbed by the local "non-profit" hospital . . . looking out for its own economic "best interests").

Every year, on this day (and on February 2 . . . the anniversary of the "notice-from-hell" that turned my world upside down), I tend to get a little blue . . . or angry all over again. I've wondered all week about what I might post.

This year, I'm going for angry-all-over-again. And what prompted it was a thread at Mark Binker's on the sentencing of Former Speaker of the NC House, Jim Black.

Connie Mack Berry, Jr (husband to former/much-maligned judicial candidate, Rachel Hunter . . . and the guy that everyone in GSO's blogging orbit loves to hate . . . a plus in my book) asked what I think is a legitimate question (about the "revelation" of a $500,000 "loan" Black got from power-lobbyist, Don Beason): "How long have you known that Beason was the Good-Ole-Boy dude behind the whole mess at the Capital, since it appears that he is Mr Undertouchable in this state? The question you should be asking is why in the heck has the mainstream establishment media in this state has given this crook a pass for so long?"

Now, I'm rather fond of Binker (as I think he is the best of what the N&R has to offer . . . as both a reporter and a blogger), but he jumped on the wrong bandwagon yesterday (using the Edward Cone-patented "all stories are not about you" line) and I will have none of it. From the back and forth:

Mark:

. . . Go back and look at your comments over the past couple years. I would say more than half of them - and there are dozens - refer back to your story. I have empathy, to a point. But lets take a reality check.

We do dig. But at the end of the day, if you shovel out a dry hole, well, there's nothing to report.

To summarize: You folks are complaining about reporters not publishing accusations of criminal activity for which we have no documentation, no official source, nothing that would pass muster in a journalism 101 class much less a court of law.

You're entitled to your opinion, but you really don't want newspaper journalist like me going down that path.

Mary:

Actually, yes I do.

Here's a "reality check": In your Black story today (re: the state's pound of flesh in the form of a one million dollar fine), you printed some good old-fashioned rumor and innuendo about the political dealings of my own "Representative" Harold Brubaker (R, Randolph County). You really had no real proof to back it up, but Jim Black made the allegation so it was good enough to print in the paper.

After all, he's a right upstanding convicted felon.

By the way, kudos for printing it, because "Speaker" Brubaker has been WAY too big for his britches for a very long time . . . very snotty to the mere peons.

The trouble is your approach. You are waiting for information to be exposed (presumably by law enforcement or legal filings) and trickle down.

My argument is that you/others could take a different tactic . . . like taking the information (AND DOCUMENTATION REGARDING CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR) I have presented to Harold Brubaker (not to mention a good portion of the state legislature), and saying to them, "This is the law as it is written. And it says certain things are supposed to happen. But they aren't happening."

"Dr. Johnson is right about what the law says with regards to her situation" (of course, that would mean you'd have to actually LOOK at the documentation I am only too eager to provide if you/your bosses would only ASK).

For anyone who may be reading and getting ominous ideas, this incriminating information is NOT stored at my home or my Mother's.

You would then ask the "honorable" former "Speaker", "So what's the problem in enforcing the law? What's the real deal here? You're this physician's representative and you can't even answer a letter, or an e-mail. What (or WHO) is keeping you from lifting a finger? What (or WHO) blocking this investigation? And WHY are they blocking it? Who does it serve?"

And watch him squirm.

In other words, you start at the bottom (with just one of many angles of approach) and you work your way UP.

And my situation (as someone who cannot afford the big lobbyists - fighting people who can) very much fits into the bigger puzzle. It's far from a "dry hole".

And by the way, (like Cone & company) you can diss what I've been doing in these blogs all you want, but if I had waited on the local newspapers to tell this story, I'd still be trapped in a black hole.

At least this way I can see a little daylight.

It's supposed to be what journalism is about, but I've pretty much given up on that.

Mark:

The Black hearing is different. What he said was said in open court - a public venue, not to mention a venue covered by fair report clauses of libel and slander law.

Brubaker was available to respond, on the record as was a third party in the transaction. All speaking on the record, for attribution.

If you can't see the difference between that and printing rumors, attributable to no one, then I'm not really sure I can help you out.

Mary:

NO Mark. That is NOT going to work this time. There is NO difference.

Where my case is concerned, "non-profit" Randolph Hospital executives, Bob Morrison and Steve Eblin lied under Oath in discovery during a court proceeding . . . to save themselves some money and keep a local Pediatrician down (and their "market" cornered).

That sort of thing IS governed by the SAME perjury & contempt (as well as libel & slander) laws that cover open court proceedings. The law, as it is written (as opposed to practiced) makes NO distinction. The truth is the truth and is absolute protection.

And a lie is a lie . . . and damning proof of the story I've begged local journalists to tell FOR YEARS.

But (again) the newspaper has to be willing to LOOK at the documentation. Your Editor has made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that he cannot be bothered to do even that.

I've done the dance of jurisdiction. I've spoken "on the record" for the STATE AND FEDERAL regulators and the politicians, and for my trouble I've been treated like dirt . . . mostly because (unlike one of my physician compatriots who arrived in Asheboro at about the same time and got everything he ever wanted) I don't have the right last name and I don't have the money to "pay-to-play".

That's where the local newspapers are supposed to come in and level the field.

So yes, this story does come back to me and my situation. Why do the Duke boys get "justice" and I get squat?

It's your job to ask.

And if Morrison and Eblin don't answer, you might consider (again, if you LOOK at the documentation that I could provide) that it's the journalistic equivalent of taking the Fifth.

I hear Lex is on the health-care beat now. I won't hold my breath.

As for the GPD situation, if the rumors are not fit to print, then why are Jerry and Bledsoe not in court defending a "libel" charge from someone/anyone . . . as opposed to fielding death threats?

"The Bledsoe has a grudge" excuse only goes so far.

And the slime-pool in Raleigh is WAY DEEP. For years, no one has so much as stirred its ugly, black waters. You CANNOT approach it (as a journalist) with the Anne Frank notion that, "I believe in my heart that most of them are good."

Your heart, I think, is in the right place. And your blog (in my LOWLY opinion) represents the best of what the N&R has to offer. But I'm sorry. NOBODY at your newspaper gets to talk to me like I'm an insignificant stray. Not after the medico-legal cluster-screw I have endured right under the N&R's nose.

You guys "sold" these blogs as your way to interact the with public . . . and get stories out there that might not otherwise get air time. But that's just a lie. Many, many people have told you-all that something is very wrong at your paper . . . if not in these blogs, then by cancelling their subscriptions. Your newsroom just endured a employee bloodbath due to falling circulation.

You guys still don't get it.

And if you can see what the attitude (and the chip on your collective shoulders) is costing you, well then I'm not sure I can help you out.

Maybe we'll go a few more rounds in the morning. Maybe we won't.

But I think it resounding demonstrates what the public CRAVES from its "watch-dogs" and is not getting.