WFMY shills for white supremacists

GREENSBORO, NC -- One of the most important activities of journalists is to check the claims of those in authority. That's why news organizations are often referred to as the lofty "fourth estate" — as in a fourth leg of the checks and balances of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our republic.

This makes WFMY's willingness to republish the proclamations of local authorities without scrutiny all the more depressing. You see, it's not just the plagiarism; it's not just the inescapalbe dishonesty of WFMY putting their names to things they did not write — not just that "Written by WFMY" is a lie, and stealing, and a con — it is also that WFMY is giving its stamp of approval to the facts, tone and context asserted in the press releases it regurgitates. They are allowing themselves to be used. As tools. Useful idiots.

And that's dangerous.

Here's why. When WFMY vomits up a glowing press release that touts a local sheriff heading off to some "border training" sponsored by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) without any of their own investigation, they miss the rather important fact that FAIR is tied to white supremacy and bigotry.

WFMY not only gives their poor audience the impression that everything is just peachy with the sheriff's trip — just as the press release promises and just as they've affirmed by putting a staff person's name to it — but they also fail to see the news right under their nose and ask the obvious question which is why the hell are local sheriffs attending a "training" event sponsored by this group?

WFMY puts their stamp of approval on "stories" like this all the time without checking them out: "Written by WFMY," for what that's worth... which is proving to be not squat.

Update: Wait, what? WFMY has attached some happy video to the story that says the Alamance County sheriff is also going — the same sheriff who the U.S. Department of Justice accused yesterday of racial profiling.