Phillips' side not told
I enjoy Californian CEO Richard Beene's columns. I have no connection to Terry Phillips. I have no journalistic credentials -- I'm just a reader. Nonetheless, it seems to me that Beene misstepped in his Jan. 25 "Bakersfield Observed" piece on Phillips standing silently during a flag salute at a service club and badly misstepped in his defense/counterattack when Phillips complained.
Beene says that since the facts he presented (Phillips stood silent during a flag salute at a service club; some of the conservatives there were upset; and Bakersfield voters won't be receptive to this) are accurate, his piece was accurate.
Before Beene included the note, he should have made it accurate and complete. Phillips says he remained silent during the flag salute to illustrate something he was going to address, and did address in his presentation, and that he normally participates in flag salutes. It obviously makes a difference to the reader why Phillips remained silent; whether because he doesn't salute the flag or because he was making a point for his speech. A piece that fails to give Phillips' side is not accurate, no matter how accurate the facts given might be, because it is incomplete. The best way to mislead is to tell only part of the truth.
I don't think Beene had any ill will and it is natural to push back against criticism, but I hope he will reconsider and apologize for not telling "the rest of the story," as a matter of journalistic courtesy.
Jay C. Smith
Bakersfield
