So, the KELOland GM tweets this out a few minutes ago:
Did he miss the part where the Argus Leader (via Jon Ellis & Joe Sneve) broke the story on August 30…:
Sioux Falls police were called to the home of Minnehaha County’s top prosecutor in an incident that preceded his weeks-long absence from office, but no records of the call were made public.
State’s Attorney Aaron McGowan has been out of office since mid-July, officially citing “medical reasons” for his absence. But an Argus Leader investigation determined that McGowan disappeared from the public eye after several police officers responded to his south Sioux Falls home on July 13.
And don’t forget the Argus’ story earned them attacks and blacklisting by McGowan:
“I’m sure that Mr. Ellis’s unnamed sources can confirm that I’m back to work, without an official comment from me. I will be addressing the false accusations against the SFPD and the inaccurate reporting by your paper in the near future. I will do so with reputable media outlets that have journalistic integrity and don’t unnecessarily attack people for headlines and profit.”
…which was followed up by McGowan conducting a puff piece with KELOland in the middle of September.
If the KELO GM is referring to the resignation story – which the Argus filed first today – even that refers back to the Argus’ pursuit of the original story:
He said in his email, “The negative print media has been too much of a distraction for me to continue with my responsibilities as State’s Attorney.”
and…
KELOLAND News reached out to the Argus Leader newspaper for a response to McGowan’s comments.
“It’s our duty to hold elected officials to account for their actions, or inactions, because if we don’t do it nobody else will. That includes Aaron McGowan.”
Cory Myers, news director
It’s great that the KELO GM is supporting his team. But let’s not kid ourselves, and give credit where credit is due.
Oh what else is new. Angela Kennecke’s “award-winning” reporting on GEARUP was mostly repeating Bob Mercer’s reporting (when Bob was still with the newspapers).
Kelo is a sad joke
I disagree with “Anonymous”‘s characterization of Angela Kennecke’s KELO-TV reporting on the SD GEAR UP scandal. I was sa source for her reporting and appeared on camera in at least five of her stories. I also provided her with the state’s 2005 federal grant application, which neither the state nor the feds were able to produce in response to KELO’s state request and federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
She not only did a lot of original reporting; in my experience, she did almost all of her own research. I was impressed by how quickly she read, understood, and was able to recall details from long and complicated grant application documents.
I didn’t read Bob Mercer’s coverage because I live in Sioux Falls and didn’t receive the newspapers he wrote for. In fact, the Aberdeen American Statesman’s website is impenetrable except to subscribers, so I may have tried unsuccessfully to read his stories there.
Therefore, my comments are in no way intended to denigrate Bob Mercer. However, the record should be clear that Angela Kennecke’s reporting was both original and solid. In fact, I used a few of her stories as background for my own stories for The Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ).
To clarify, when I said “almost all of her own research,” I was thinking of the research intern KELO assigned to work with her to assist in finding and organizing the voluminous SD GEAR UP materials.