April fools joke? No sadly this is how journalism is portrayed in Baldwin County. We have no print media coverage on the eastern shore, only bad tabloid news. Baldwin County has had some very good journalist, Connie Baggett and Mike Odom were two of the best. What we have been left with is more than embarrassing, it is a travesty of free speech and journalism.
The Gulf Coast tabloid, The Courier, has deteriorated into a tool for Catalyst, a political cancer. The editor has bitten the Catalyst apple and has berated and embarrassed Fairhope as a community. Fairhope should ask themselves, who in the Fairhope Public Library thought that Chuckee should be the one to address Freedom of Speech. Who in the Fairhope library has a Catalyst agenda and thought that Chuckee attacking the Mayor and Fairhope was a good idea?
Chuckee is a journalist, the Ripp Report is a blog site, let that sink in.
“Independence of spirit and mind, rather than neutrality, is the principle journalists must keep in focus. While editorialists and commentators are not neutral, the source of their credibility is still their accuracy, intellectual fairness and ability to inform, not their devotion to a certain group or outcome.”
Chuckee has failed to uphold the basic principle of Journalism by aligning himself with a “dark money” political group like Catalyst. Chuckee has slaughtered the five core principles of journalism and turned a historic paper founded in Fairhope, into toilet paper. The Fairhope Courier. Founded in 1894 by E. B. Gaston, The Fairhope Courier Newspaper came to Alabama and brought with it The Fairhope Single Tax Colony. Chuckee has destroyed that legacy.
Five Core Principles of Journalism
- Truth and Accuracy. Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. …
- Independence. …
- Fairness and Impartiality. …
- Humanity. …
- Accountability.
Judging the writings of Chuckee in the Courier, it does lead one to believe he is also the editor of Baldwin Insider, a Catalyst blog site.
If you go tonight to listen to Chuckee bring your own popcorn you are going to need something to settle your stomach and consider asking him some questions.
Chuckee: ?
Are you writing for Baldwin Insider?
Have you been recently served with a subpoena?
How many, and when, were you legally warned to cease and assist involving your scribbling ?
Why do you focus so much negative attention on the Mayor and omit any criticism of the Council?
Why do you not use, like other Journalist do, FOIA ,request for documents, from Fairhope?
Who is leaking and providing you with those documents?
Why have you not covered The Fairhope Airport scandal involving Fairhope Council President Jack Burrell?
Why have you not covered Kevin Boone and his many LLC’s ?
Why have you not cover councilman Brown and his unethical behavior in securing a contract with Eastern Shore Art Museum?
Why did you not cover the Tatumville debacle?
Why have you not gone into great detail about Catalyst and their ability to seed mid term elections with candidates that believe in the good ole boys and their entitled right to be corrupt?
CATALYST, THE THREE B’s, AND CHUCKEE CHEEZE
CATALYST, THE THREE B’s, AND CHUCKEE CHEEZE | THE RIPP REPORT / BALDWIN COUNTY LEGAL EAGLE
Catalyst is a political cancer found in Baldwin County. It hand picks political candidates. Catalyst was formally Stacy Elliott and Haygood, the birth of the cancer, that morphed into Catalyst when…
Source: rippreport.com/2018/03/07/catalyst-the-three-bs-and-chuckee-cheeze/
Why have you ignored the Majority of citizens and represented the Minority?
Why did you sit on your ass and witness the Fairhope City Council President Jack Burrell deny a citizen the right to free speech? This should have aroused ever fiber in your body, you as a “journalist” should have been outraged. Instead you spin it far from any journalist principals because your alliance is with Catalyst.
THE CHUCKY CHEEZE AND JACK BURRELL SHOW
THE CHUCKY CHEEZE AND JACK BURRELL SHOW | THE RIPP REPORT / BALDWIN COUNTY LEGAL EAGLE
Well Chucky Cheeze and “come fly with me” Burrell have come up with their new hit piece on the Mayor of Fairhope. They are reminding the general public of their support for fired employees and how…
Source: rippreport.com/2017/11/15/the-chucky-cheeze-and-jack-burrell-show/
Chuckee as far as journalism goes you are a disgrace, however you have your Catalyst followers. It is up to the citizens to disseminate your writings and my bet is they will see you as Chuckee Cheese.
I use to read the Courier – not anymore. The readership of this “newspaper” has fallen to the point of becoming irrelevant. I will NOT read the Courier nor any of he GCN tabloids. They are so biased.
As a matter of fact, the GCN actually gives out the paper for free to many organizations just so they can keep their distribution numbers up. I would name two but it would identify me and I would become a target for the “Dark Money” group. But hey, most of us know all this about the GCN group.
*used to read
Sorry about the grammatical mistake. Thanks for catching that for me, Jay.
Notice no more posts from the Baldwin Insider now that Chuckie has been exposed?
At least Paul Ripp signs his name to his posts. Chuckie hides…
Build Ripp a statue.
Jail Tim Kant for the sewer debacle. Make Burrell lick it up.
Nailed that no pooty getting loser!yes
The librarian who booked chucky used to date Kant.
Yuck
I could not BELIEVE it when I saw that he would be speaking at the library. You asked the first right question: “Who in the Fairhope Public Library thought that Chuckee should be the one to address Freedom of Speech?”. It’s absurd. I’d like to know if anyone showed up today.
That’s our Library and it’s going to have a such a terrible stench in it from now on after Chukie Cheese speaks. Stop this piss poor excuse of a human being!
The library is like the airport!!!
Where is all the money going?????
I am disgusted. I will no longer be a “Friend of the Libray” and do anything for it. Furthermore I will work to discourage others from donating time, money, or anything to the library until it apologizes to the decency of the people.
Off subject, sorry! But why is the devil and hypocrite Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey quoting scriptures on his Facebook page. What a goof ball. Even his own members and even the catalyst know what a thieving pier he is. Distant from Tucker Dorsey while you still have the chance. He will be the next Baldwin County Commissioner along with DUI Baldwin County Commissioner Chris Elliott. Tucker has left Sheriff functions drunk as a skunk. Next!!!!
He is quoting Bible verses because he is desperate to get people to believe he is a conservative Christian when in fact he is a greedy person who worships money. He is feeling the heat as people are learning about him. Now he is praying for forgiveness. God may forgive us but the people will vote you out
Tuckers monsta truck has limo tint.
Illegal limousine tint.
Well we do have the Lagniappe. The Lagniappe covers the news better and it is free. With the Lagniappe who needs the Courier? The Lagniappe covers The Eastern Shore better and it is supposed to be a Mobile paper.
Well I guess I just reiterated Ripp’s point when he stated that Baldwin County has no real journalism over on this side of the bay.
That AM radio station is a joke too. Worse than Chuckkkee.
We are living in an era of no news. Ripp is right. We used to have good coverage. al.com is a shell of its former self.
“Global Freedom of the Press”
What a fricking joke. Does this guy have credentials? What is his degree?
I actually tried to find his “credentials”. Not much to find. B.A. from Auburn. Newspaper Adviser – in high school. Weekend manager at a cafe.
Soccer fields. The six million dollar scam. No pride. No shame. Unlevel fields. No tournaments due to lack of tournament-ready fields and facilities. Huge boone doggle for Fairhope. Son Scott did work on fields.
Another in a long list of Boone Doggles.
What’s the much anticipated announcement about the Airport ?
Jack has announced there is no announcement.
The person who hired chuck should be fired.
From the Desk of Mayor Karin Wilson
City of Fairhope
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Local Paper Still Spinning the Truth – And You’re Paying for It
DECEMBER 23, 2017CITY ASSETS, FINANCES
It has been a long year and media in general hasn’t made it any easier, but one media outlet in particular took things too far. In August I made the decision to take action. I had an attorney send a demand letter for a retraction of a fabricated quote the editor at GCN (The Courier) attributed to me in one of his many biased articles. The retraction happened, but the damage to the City was done. He knew the statement was malicious and Gulf Coast Media knew, or should have known, that this statement was totally false, yet they published it anyway.
After receiving the letter from my attorney, a citizen forwarded me a screenshot of what the the author of the article posted on his FB page:
Attempting to destroy the reputation of a city, stirring up unnecessary drama and spinning the truth is no joking matter. And it is costing our City greatly.
A few days ago, another hit-piece article by the same person insinuated that the City may have violated state law with the use of our city barricades. If he knew the whole process started with a city councilman reaching out to one of the city employees to help out a fraternity brother whose father worked for the Roy Moore campaign, maybe he wouldn’t have started the “investigative” story. The “state law” violated was that council should not direct city employees. That is the role of the mayor and I was never contacted. In fact, I didn’t know about the details of what happened until the “reporter” started asking questions. Bottom line, barricades were used to protect citizens and all City expenses were reimbursed when the invoice was paid. The probe is simply embarrassing and a waste of time.
In addition, I received the following email yesterday questioning why I misled council and the public about the debris removal contract. As with most of his negative reporting on my administration, he takes the questions he’s been fed from his secret sources, presumes the questions are fact-based, uses sensationalized headlines, confuses the public and ultimately further divides the office of the mayor and council.
His questions are typical of his reporting – he implies I’m guilty and asks how I wish to respond and invites council to point fingers – which they do. When he finishes his articles, you will also notice there are never any “unavailable for comment” responses from detractors as his articles are intended to be a platform for, and pander to, council, disgruntled city employees and adversaries. Therefore a response from me is not important for these articles. However, I will bring the facts to the citizens as always – the same facts that were shared with council in July so they could make an informed decision.
I decided not to answer the questions and instead waited until he posted the article to see what was written, again without facts, and see how the detractors responded. I had this blog ready to post and everything came out exactly as I predicted.
Here is the article. (I will discuss why I didn’t sign the appointment for the City attorney later).
I requested the purchasing manager to rebid ALL contracts in January, which included debris removal – six months before it expired – in an effort to leave PLENTY of time to get RFP responses in and to review them. Pittman Tractor received this request and declined to rebid. The other answers are in red:
Here are the facts about the Debris Removal Contract I sent to council in July:
Click here to read the email I sent council.
Click here to read the attachment to the email from Volkert
As you can see, council was given all the facts.
I hope the editor will begin to recognize that leaked documents and misinformation he’s being fed are coming from politicos and special interests that want to see me fail. But because I have only one agenda – to make positive changes and enhancements in our great City in a meaningful way – it has been more difficult than they expected.
It has gotten a lot easier to ignore the lies and innuendo directed at me, however, when these articles start costing the City in unnecessary legal fees, disparaging City staff and subjecting the City to unwarranted liability – all at taxpayers expense mind you – I will come back with the same tenacity that got me elected and will continue to give you the facts.
The Courier is primarily funded by legal ads. Since the Courier has relinquished its role as a legitimate primary publication of record for the City of Fairhope, I will be seeking an alternate source in which to place our legal ads. You deserve better.
Sincerely,
Mayor Karin Wilson
We love you Karin. You are brave. You are going up against these bullies and we are awed at your inner core and principles. More and more people are finding out the truth.
Please know, Mayor Wilson, there are many people in your corner.
I want to go to work for the Catalyst group and make some money. They are in real estate, development, newspapers, politics, and now the library! I previously sold my soul in a previous deal so I wonder what they can use that I have left? Maybe my lack of a soul and no conscious is just what they could use
Do not you also have to be a Christian.
Well you have to be a “Conservative Christian” because it sounds better. You don’t have to REALLY be one but just say you are then you do whatever you want to do in the name of being a Conservative Christian
Five Core Principles of Journalism
Truth and Accuracy. Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the cardinal principle of journalism. …
Independence. …
Fairness and Impartiality. …
Humanity. …
Accountability.
These are quoted from your own words however mr ripp you do not follow them if your are going to blog or report what ever you call it then don’t take side report ALL the facts and let the citizens decide what is correct NOT you this site is a damn shame at all the misinformation that is going on do some investigative reporting not this garbage that is being fed to the public and you might just learn something