What is the Motive Behind Scripps Writer Larry Van Guilder?

It has been observed that for the last four weeks, Scripps writer Larry Van Guilder has authored and published a weekly story on School Board Member Bill Phillips and his wife Karen. The most interesting developments in these four stories are that there are no comments from the Phillips. There is nothing in the stories that acknowledge that the Phillips were contacted and given an opportunity to respond. There have been comments from former Black Wednesday County Commissioner Jack Huddleston in the stories. But, nothing from the subjects of an adverse story. Here is the Society of Professional Journalistic Code of Ethics that all Scripps writers should adhere to. The item that Van Guilder has avoided and appears not to have adhered to is. “Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.” Van Guilder writes for the Shopper News which is a wholly owned entity of The E. W. Scripps Company. Do they have a Ethics policy that governs their employees? Well, yes they do. Here is the E.W. Scripps Ethics policy. From the E.W. Scripps policy it states, “Thorough print and broadcast news reporting that thoughtfully examines issues and subjects from as many angles as necessary.” In the four stories (one was labeled opinion, the other three were not labeled as opinion) Van Guilder only viewed the subjects from one angle and left the subjects without the ability to explain, expound and react to the stories prior to publication.

Scripps has retained EthicsPoint, an independent firm that offers telephone and Web-based
reporting of ethical concerns by Scripps employees. When you call the toll-free Scripps Ethics
Line at 888-397-4911, a trained professional of EthicsPoint will answer your call. This confidential telephone ethics line provides support in more than 120 languages. If you prefer, you can log your concern via the Internet by accessing www.ethicspoint.com. All Web reports are encrypted for anonymity. The telephone ethics line and Web site are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Could Van Guilder’s negative stories and bias be a reaction to Bill Phillips not purchasing ads with the Shopper. Could Van Guilder’s negative stories and bias be reaction to Phillips attending the Farragut Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting prior to his election informing them that the likely hood that the School Board would build a school on property that former Farragut Alderman Tom Rossell wanted the Town of Farragut to purchase. This is not the first time that the Shopper News has violated the Journalistic Code of Ethics, Scripps writer Betty Bean violated the code in August 2006 with a 3 part series entitled “County Confidential”. Shopper Editor Sandra Clark came under scrutiny in the Spring of 2006 with a controversial photo caption. WATE filed and ran a story on photo controversy. In the story Gay activist, Gary Elgin says, “Since it has no relation to the movie itself, it has no bearing on the film or it’s subject matter, it can only be inferred that it may very well be a political smear, based on homophobia, based on people’s fears and mis-information on homosexuality.”.