How the Newburyport Daily News is Trying to Rig the Selectman Race in Salisbury

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PAYING ATTENTION ON-LINE EXTRA

 

GIL
Salisbury Selectman Candidate Gil Medeiros

This week the Newburyport Daily News (owned by the Eagle ~Tribune, headquartered in Alabama) ran a hit piece on Salisbury Selectman candidate Gil Medeiros being fired 8 years ago from his job at the Essex County Sheriff’s Department. 

And, while the Daily news seems to have finally figured out how to do real investigative journalism after decades in business, they are still up to their old tricks in the way they try to purposely, and underhandedly fix elections to favor the insiders in Salisbury who feed them information and spend lots of money on advertising. 

Yes, Medeiros was fired by the Sheriff’s Department in 2010 for not reporting to his supervisors of his “involvement” in  stolen backhoe sweeper. And yes, he was also previously reprimanded for posting a politically incorrect photo on his Facebook page, something all of us have done from time to time. 

But, there’s reporting facts, and then there’s reporting only some of the facts in order to purposely sink a political candidate running for office. 

What they didn’t “report” in that backhoe incident, is that Medeiros had been the whistle-blower who informed Peabody Police of the culprit’s identity. They didn’t report that he cooperated with police when the equipment was found on state property near his, (not on HIS property as was alleged)  and they also didn’t report that it was Medieros who facilitated getting the sweeper returned to it’s rightful owner.

Those are pretty important facts when reporting a “news” story about a candidate for office just 6 days before an election. 

None of this, however, is the real issue at hand for Salisbury voters who will choose their selectmen on Tuesday. 

The issue at hand is how the Newburyport Daily News manipulates their readers to vote out of emotion to get the election results most favorable to them.

SELECTIVE REPORTING

By their own admission, the Daily News had this story three years ago when Medeiros first ran for selectman, but, they never printed it. Wasn’t it “news” then? Isn’t it a dereliction of duty to hold back a legitimate news story on a candidate for office? Why didn’t they run the story that year? Because Medeiros was not considered a real contender, he was no threat to the “insiders” who play ball with The Daily News. 

They also didn’t run the story last year when Medeiros again ran for selectman. Why? Nobody, not even the Daily News thought he had a legitimate shot at winning that election either.

But, when Mediros lost that election by only 19 votes, it was clear that he would be the front runner candidate if he decided to run again this year. 

So, the Daily News sat on that “news” story for another full year, waiting in the bushes to ambush Medeiros if he stepped forward to run against their favorite son, Freeman Condon this year. And that’s exactly what they did. 

Salisbury Selectman  Freeman Condon
Salisbury Selectman Freeman Condon

You see, Condon is a sacred cow to the Daily News because he rubber stamps everything that Town Manager Neil Harrington puts in front of him. Condon is Harrington’s wing man. He has been involved in covering up the misdeeds of Harrington and town officials for years. Condon is very valuable to the Daily News, and their glowing coverage of all things Condon, makes it evident to anyone in this business who pays attention. 

It is odd, however, that the Daily news has never done an investigation on Freeman Condon allegedly filling wetland on his property. Also odd is how they buried a story in the Seabrook section of the paper that Henry Richenberg was fined $2,500 by the ethics commission for conflicts of interest. Apparently the only investigations The Daily News is interested in involve those who are a threat to the good old boy network. 

SHAMELESS

What’s different about how the Newburyport Daily News does the bidding for Condon, Harrington and the good old boys, is that the are shamelessly open about it.  

Two years ago AngelJean Chiaramida called The Valley Patriot to ask me, “reporter to reporter” who our source was on the Harrington story we published about the fake sewer betterment of 1992. She did this less than 24 hours after her pal Neil Harrington made the bogus claim at a public meeting that it was Tom Saab and the members of Salisbury Beach Citizens for Change.

Apparently Harrington was desperate to find out who blew the whistle on that story and dispatched AngelJean to see if she could persuade me to give up our source! How outrageous that a reporter would call another reporter to violate the one commandment of journalism, protecting sources. 

It is clear that the American people are tired of the so called “news” industry slanting news and selectively reporting one side of a story to fix election results. The only group of people that the public hates more than politicians are reporters. And shenanigans like this are the reason why. 

What’s worse, a letter by one of Condon’s supporters was sent to the Valley Patriot last week before the story about Medeiros’s firing was even published. 

The letter also alleged that the Valley Patriot was “giving promotional space space to the candidacy of Gil Medeiros, who is as Sleazy as they come.”

The “promotional space” she was referring to was a paid political ad that ran in last month’s newspaper, but what was most interesting was that the writer of this letter obviously had inside knowledge of the story that AngelJean of the Daily News had yet to publish.

It’s clear that the fix is in to sink the candidacy of Gil Medeiros for Salisbury Selectman. No longer is the media an objective arbiter of facts, but are active lobbyist for … and against … political candidates based on what benefits them the most. 

The voters of Salisbury have a choice this Tuesday. Do you want to continue to be manipulated by the good old boys in Salisbury who circle the wagons and cover up public information with the blessing, and sometime the help, of the Newburyport Daily News?

Do you really want to reward them for this kind of election rigging? Or do you want someone who is independent and not in bed with the insiders and the favorite sons? 

The choice is up to you. Just make sure when you vote on Tuesday you are voting based on who will do a good job on the board, and not making an emotional decision based on what you read in the Daily News.