For years Charlottesville has been a victim of distorted news. The news, like a court of law, should always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The news sources in Charlottesville all fail that test. They distribute the news that fits their narrative and quite often leave out relevant facts or fail to ask obvious questions that would provide the reader the entire story so that the reader can decide for themselves what to believe. For instance… a couple of weeks ago there was a shooting on Hardy drive where two officers and a shooter were all injured. In a local TV report they interviewed a person from the area who said that the residents don’t help the police because “you know how they do” giving the direct implication that the police are corrupt, which the record does not support. Instead of challenging the man to clarify, or seek a comment about the allegation from a police spokesperson they simply left the assertion unchallenged and went on with the story, leaving the reader to believe that police corruption is a given. In another paper they republish editorials from the New York Times and the Washington Post that are filled with left wing ideology and do so with the disclaimer that “these are not necessarily the opinion” of the paper printing it, thus leaving them unaccountable when challenged. It was they, however who CHOSE what to reprint. Carrying the rope makes you culpable in the lynching.
Many, many stories told are one sided and the other side is never given a chance to speak up and are often (very often) censored in the comment sections even though their words do not violate the TOS as printed. The comment sections should be a truly free speech forums where people can speak their minds and debate issues of importance. We have seen first hand how the censorship affects the dialog. Intelligent thoughtful arguments brought forward are often removed, presumably because they don’t fit the narrative (and also don’t violate the TOS) while the ignorant comments that make the sources narrative look better but do violate the TOS are allowed to stay. It is pure and simple manipulation of the narrative which is not what true journalism is supposed to be about. The Charlottesville Free Press will have a comment section that will allow for speech that is in line with the First Amendment. If that means some people are offended than so be it. This is the United States of America where even a complete moron has the right to voice his opinion. Allowing his argument to come forth and be debated will always do more to advance a civilized squelching free thought. We may cross out certain words so the comments become about substance not words but we will allow people to voice their opinions free of censorship. This is how we learn and move forward as a people.
Quite simply we are going to religiously read the local news sources and dissect their stories and get the entire story out. Not just the current liberal narrative. We have been developing sources all over town and we will give people the entire story. These other news outlets will do a lot of our work for us. We will call them out when they are wrong, we will ask the questions they refuse to ask and we will give people a fair forum to defend themselves. When someone calls us with government waste fraud and abuse we will research it and print the story no matter who gets hurt. We will use the Freedom of Information Act to let the people know where their money is going and who screwed up.
We will also try and fill a void they have created when they pass on national stories that are relevant but they presumably don’t want you to hear.
We have been working for nearly a year developing confidential sources and it is our belief that once we begin publishing totally honest stories that we will get a lot of folks coming out of the woodwork to have their story told. We are currently financed in house and will not be selling advertising so as to establish a strong reader base without the left trying to hurt us by boycotting any advertiser. While we are a small fish in a big pond we think we can make a difference in Charlottesville and Albemarle where the real news is getting harder and harder to distinguish.
So please give us a little time to get things up and rolling and feel free to post comments as you wish.
Here are some stories we are working on….
Why is the Belmont Bridge still not done?
What is the in-depth analysis of the cities stop and frisk policy.
Why was Westhaven’s maintenance allowed to be ignored for so long and what did the public get for the money spent?
What is the sentencing record of local Judges and how many crimes did people they went easy on commit when they probably should have been in jail?
What resources are local law enforcement denied while the systems spend millions elsewhere.?
How does illegal immigration affect the local schools, hospitals and affordable housing?
Should a Transgender person be allowed to force local schools and gyms to have coed showers?
What are the actual qualifications of our elected civil servants compared to their responsibilities?
Who pays the taxes and who consumes the taxes.
And we welcome suggestions……
