Media attention not reason official became ‘distraction’

There are any number of reasons to be grateful for modern telecommunications. But one journalists are especially thankful for is that we no longer live in fear of anyone shooting the messenger.
That metaphoric phrase is derived from a time when messages (“real” bad news) were usually delivered by a human envoy.
Today, that threat of lashing out at the blameless bearer of bad news comes in the form of malicious innuendo and often baseless accusations.
Last week, the secretary of the state’s Department of Commerce resigned in light of an investigation into $150 million in community block grants for flood relief.
Commerce was charged with administering these federal grants that were only released in February.
Applications for these funds for housing assistance in the wake of the devastating June 2016 floods began in August 2017.
A little more than $1 million of those $150 million in funds was actually doled out to flood survivors since then.
That’s despite a November 2017 news release by the Commerce secretary claiming more than 1,100 families were served, which the governor said was “totally inaccurate.”
“There’s no question that Commerce has dropped the ball,” the governor said at a recent news conference.
So when we read of the Commerce secretary’s resignation, we initially thought that he fell on his sword or the governor twisted his arm
Instead, the governor now says the Commerce head did a “solid job,” but that he was leaving because recent media attention was a distraction.
Let the record be clear: There was no media plot, no group of mean-spirited evildoers that set out to drag down this leader of economic development. The only person responsible for his downfall and him becoming a “distraction” was himself.
That goes doubly for the governor, who even chided the media in May for not asking happier questions at a news conference.
And perhaps tenfold for the president who created the phrase “fake news” to dodge and weave out of bad news for him.
Clearly, political leaders and agency heads are not the only ones who lay blame for their woes on the media.
The list is endless, ranging from powerful movie producers to parents whose child is arrested for a misdemeanor.
Our intent is simply to report what the public has a right to know while being accurate and fair.
Conventional wisdom holds that knowing the truth will set you free. It, of course, might also make you mad
As in angry (or crazy) at the messenger or the medium that’s delivering the message.
To err is human — but to blame it on the media is more so.