by Mark Van Loon, Hamilton
I was first alerted to the possibility of the Sheep Creek Mine, out past the end of the West Fork Road at the headwaters of the West Fork river, by an article in The Missoulian. I also then found an article in Mining.com. I started digging. In one single email exchange I was informed that the mining company hadn’t even applied for a permit. In another, a retired engineer looked at their financials and determined that they didn’t have the resources to proceed. He also said it’s pretty standard for a mining company to put out a lot of PR fluff trying to draw investors. And recently, Tod McKay of the BNF put out a public statement addressing the issue.
I’m just a citizen here, not a trained reporter, but it was easy enough for me to find out the truth. And it was a week later that Michael Howell in The Star continued the narrative of ‘PR as news’. I had a similar situation a while back with Victoria Howell. They helmed The Star for decades and got numerous awards. Well deserved, then. What happened? I’m saddened and disgusted that The Star has lost its journalistic integrity. Good, local news sources are the lifeblood of a community. Apparently ‘fast and lazy’ instead of ‘accurate’ is the new motto at the Star. Too bad.
Might be a good idea to take a couple minutes right now, while it’s still fresh, to see how other local news sources – print, TV, online – reported this and keep notes. It will tell you who does their homework and strives for accuracy.