Just hours after a lame attempt to sully the reputation of new County Commissioner Brian Maughan, reporter Unseen Dean wrote what some insiders say is one of the worst stories they’ve ever seen in the Daily Irrelevancy. Now that’s saying something!

Maughan, who campaigned on a promise to restore integrity to the office, has been making good on his promise. An internal investigation by Maughan’s new team has uncovered more disturbing revelations, which in turn have spurred yet another investigation into the former commissioner by the District Attorney.

The now obviously red-faced Dean wrote what insiders say is a distorted, error-filled piece that attempts to downplay the role Maughan’s team, and, when the full story emerges, will be even embarrassing for the now largely-irrelevant paper.

“One day after ripping Maughan for how he assembled his team, Unseen Dean has to eat it and admit the new team is much better than the old team. No wonder the story stinks so badly,” our insider says.

Since the Daily Irrelevancy is unable to report fairly and accurately about this story, OKPNS will! After all, the Irrelevancy ignored the Dirty Harry Coates saga last year, but you still got the truth. No wonder why Brad Henry and other liberals like Unseen Dean hate the blogs and talk radio so much!

Developing……..

Related:

Examiner.com: Reporters Should Just Stick to Reporting the News!

From Examiner.com:

The laugher of the day comes courtesy of the increasingly irrelevant daily newspaper in Oklahoma City and one of their low-ranking reporters.

For the 40 or 50 folks who may have actually read the story, they were treated today to the thinly veiled musings of an obscure reporter named Bryan (Unseen) Dean. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the little-known Unseen Dean is a big government liberal whose business operations IQ looks to be in the single digits. Dean and the rest of the paper were in the bag for new Commissioner Maughan’s opponents last November, and now the paper wants to get the attention of Maughan, the conservative Republican who soundly whipped the paper’s bureaucratic buddies down at the county courthouse. Read more…

We all know the Oklahoma press corps needs a major enema! Here’s reason # 1,953:

From the State Sunshine & Open Records blog:

My friend and colleague Paul Jacob was indicted in Oklahoma in June 2007 by attorney general Drew Edmondson.

When the Citizens in Charge Foundation (CICF) sent out a press release to the Oklahoma media last week, announcing that the charges had been dropped, the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority — the public television station in Oklahoma — sent a “spam complaint” to Hostica, the company that hosts the CICF website, causing the website to temporarily be pulled.

I would think that getting press releases about Oklahoma-related news would be all in a day’s work for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, and would not be something to cause someone at OETA to go to the trouble of filing a spam complaint with CICF’s server. I’d be curious to know who made that decision, and why, and how it was executed. Read more…

Incredibly, this is not the first time OETA has reported Mr. Jacob’s emails as spam to their hosting provider!

If any of you believe this statement, we’ve got some beach front property in Nebraska we’d like to sell you too! Simply put, this is an agreement these newspapers have reached to survive in an age of the internet, twitter, and social networking.

So let’s get this straight, The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World are combining to provide us more news that we’re already not reading! Granted, the country is in a recession and ad revenues are obviously down, but the dinosaur media’s problems are much deeper than a temporary lull in the economy. To put it in a nutshell, folks are finding alternative sources of news because they don’t trust the reporting. How can anyone trust the Tulsa World when the publisher contributes to a politician’s (Drew Edmondson) campaign during the campaign! Both papers’ web presence and anemic use of new media techniques are pathetic. Actually, they give pathetic a bad name. If you need some help fellas to help you try and survive in this new paradigm, (what do you think of that word? Impressed?) give us a call (314 432-4010) we’ll even give you a discount on our consultancy fees.

NOTE

*If there is anyone with vision in Oklahoma who can see the enormous opportunities this opens for new media outlets like OKPNS, give us a call too and we’ll share our ideas to capitalize on the reporting vacuum left by this consolidation.

Related:

Dr. Goose “Press I Guess” an Ode to the Capitol Press Corps

EXCLUSIVE: Lazy Press Set to Sleep Through Poultry Scandal….Again!

You can add newpapers too!

 Here’s another example of why the print media is going the way of the Dodo Bird and the Saber Tooth Tiger. This is no slight on Mr. Bates over at the Batesline blog (even though he still ignores us – even after we bought an ad on his blog in ‘07!) but for the Tulsa World to go through all the time, expense and effort to sue a blog for libel that gets an average of 750 hits – when your readership is in the thousands – sure sounds crazy to us!

With the newspaper industry bleeding money like a stuffed pig, maybe Mr. Lorton should consider saving a little of that money to send to W.A.D. Edmondson’s gubernatorial campaign. It’s almost that time to pony up again.

Congratulations Mr. Bates, these idiots have just made you famous!

Related:

Batesline: Web reactions to Tulsa World lawsuit

The Lost Ogle: More proof OPUBCO is struggling: $20 Obama T-Shirts

 More proof of the incestuous relationship between W. A. D. and the media?

“Recently I sent out a news release with a statement declaring our innocence and attacking this politically-motivated prosecution. Next thing I know, the Citizens in Charge website gets shut down. An email from the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority complained to our hosting service that the news release was spam.”

Talk about censorship! It’s frightening that in America, if a media organization (one supported by tax dollars no less!) disagrees with your cause, besides ignoring you, they report your press releases to your hosting provider as spam. Welcome to the People’s Republic of Oklahoma!

Related: SHOW ME THE LOVE! ‘06 Media Contributions to Attorney General Skewing Current “PoultryGate” Coverage?

Edmondson Accepts Contributions from Tulsa World Chairman in ‘06; Also Receives Paper’s Endorsement

From Examiner.com:

While W.A.D. Edmondson blatantly abuses his power persecuting citizen activists and poultry farmers (with a willing media turning a blind eye) – the people of Oklahoma City don’t have to be reminded that there is only one daily newspaper, and it is quickly sliding into increasing irrelevance.

A story in today’s New York Times reminds us why the new media matters and the old media is dying. Read more…

Related:

Harris Interactive: Four Out of Five Adults Now Use the Internet

Courtesy of Conium

Oklahoma Attorney General W.A.D. Edmondson’s contingency lawsuit business took a severe market downturn of its own on Monday, as a federal judge denied W.A.D’s request to stop poultry farmers from using poultry litter as fertilizer in the Illinois River watershed in northeastern Oklahoma. (Click here to read ruling)

In his ruling U.S. District Judge Judge Gregory K. Frizzell concluded that the state had not yet met its burden or proving that bacteria in the waters of the Illinois River watershed are caused by the application of poultry litter rather than other sources, including cattle manure and human septic systems.

Frizell noted that the evidence presented to the court indicated that fecal bacteria in the Illinois River comes “from a number of sources…the record reflects levels of fecal bacteria at similar levels in rivers and streams throughout the state of Oklahoma, including waterways in whose watersheds the record does not evidence similar application of poultry waste.”

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board has released a 2007 study which details 110 sampling stations on 44 streams across the state. Bacteria levels across Oklahoma were such that only 11 stations showed water to be safe for primary body contact.

The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality also released a report stating that only 5 bodies of water tested in Oklahoma were considered safe from a bacteria standpoint.

Judge Frizell ruled that the testimony of two of W.A.D’s primary expert witnesses – who were reportedly paid millions of dollars for their work – was not sufficiently reliable, and therefore could not be considered.

The testimony of Valerie Harwood and Dr. Roger Olsen was based on work that “has not been peer reviewed or published,” Frizell noted in his order.

Attorneys across the state are evaluating the significance of Judge Frizell’s order. W.A.D Edmondson stated, “It is important to note that this ruling has no impact on our environmental case.”

Others are debating whether the court’s ruling that the expert witness testimony did not meet the “Daubert Standard” or “Daubert Challenge” – a standard applied to establish the admissibility of expert testimony – will mean the experts will not be allowed to testify to a jury during any upcoming trial.

“If W.A.D.’s experts are not allowed to testify because their testimony is not deemed sufficiently reliable, is there really a case here?” an attorney not involved in the case commented.

W.A.D has announced he is considering running as a candidate for governor, and has expressed confidence that his lawsuit against poultry companies will be resolved by the time his campaign begins.

Jackie Cunningham, The Community Relations Director for the Poultry Community Council said the industry and farmers “were grateful for the opportunity to present the evidence to support our position, and we feel this ruling recognizes what we have been saying since this lawsuit began: the science simply does not support the attorney general’s claims against the hard-working farmers of northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas.”

Related:

From the tip line:

Have you seen or heard about the “Shall We Gather at the River” movie? I haven’t seen it but there has been quite a buzz about it around Tulsa and in the Tulsa World. (see below)

Don McCorkell, who got beat in the Tulsa Mayor’s race has taken it upon him self to make this what he calls a documentary – slamming the poultry industry. I haven’t seen nor do I want to. The fact that he and Drew are working together and Drew is using the piece to tell the folks of Oklahoma that he is their Savior is enough for me.

Also, McCorkell was asked to interview some farmers in northeast Oklahoma about the rules, regulations and laws the farmers are under. Farmers I’ve talked to haven’t heard a word from him. That would tell me he didn’t want to include the truth about all the efforts the farmers make to preserve the environment.

Is Drew and McCorkell trying to influence a jury pool with the movie? They have shown it in Tahlequah, Tulsa and Miami Oklahoma – right in the heart of where jurors will be selected from. That would sure help their chances in court – and it would help the law firms who stand to make so much money if they can win this in court – and in return – that would be that much more money they could contribute to Drew’s political campaign funds.

Also, is McCorkell looking for a job with Drew when/if Drew makes it to the governor’s mansion? That would be my guess – or maybe even in the AG’s office.

Nothing like politics.

Tulsa World (9/14/08) Ex-politician makes his point with documentary

Tulsa World (9/11/08) Documentary plays chicken with the poultry industry 

OKPNS (2/23/07) Edmondson Accepts Contributions from Tulsa World Chairman in ‘06; Also Receives Paper’s Endorsement

Oklahoman’s For Responsible Government: Round 1: Poultry

Is the Tulsa World beating a dead horse?

Our second favorite Oklahoma newspaper the Tulsa World – at least they didn’t threaten to sue us like The Oklahoman – continues to show their biases against Republicans as this OKPNS post from last year clearly demonstrates:

“World publishing Chairman Richard E. Lorton donated $2,000 to the Edmondson re-election effort last year. Coincidentally, Edmondson also won the World’s endorsement.”  Read more…

Today, they felt it warranted to do another, almost identical story from the preceding day, (modified twice) of the politically motivated reopening of Rep. Randy’s Terrill’s bankruptcy case. And as in the first story, you have to read halfway through the story before you come to this one important sentence:

“Terrill’s purchase of the tickets with campaign money apparently does not violate state ethics laws.”

Sad. To borrow a couple of words from our friend Sen. Harry “Turn” Coats “stolen” emails press conference: “It’s sad that a few fanatical individuals” – who have the responsibility to be fair and balanced – can’t keep their obvious biases out of reporting the news.

Related:

The Lost Ogle: Apparently racists like OU football, too

“The worst newspaper in America”

What’s the price you pay in Oklahoma if you want to keep your scandal out of the formerly relevant, worst paper in the country?

How about $1 million? Or perhaps this explains it better.

As you may recall, our blog of commentary and news has broken a number of stories over the years the paper won’t touch. We know that the paper is a joke, and even reporters with the “country’s worst newspaper” say this from time to time to OKPNS privately. Morale is very low at the paper, as the management is banking on the woeful Internet “TV” station, Newsok.TV. We’re especially riveted by the Ed Kelley Show and the Ladies’ Room. Must see TV!

So we turned to the paper today to see how they would follow the blockbuster revelations that Chesapeake Energy has been snared in a campaign finance controversy in Arkansas. We were shocked, shocked I say, to see nothing about the revelations of the Arkansas Gazette reported here Monday! But we did find that Chesapeake is giving OSU some money! Now THAT is quality journalism.

But we have faith in the country’s worst newspaper: we know the Chesapeake campaign story will be in TOMORROW’S newspaper. Just don’t hold your breath.