Parker's Friends Are Good. Mary Campbell Is Bad. Got it.

Glenn Jessome Follow Me

Posted this 2016-01-08 4:32 PM AST (updated 2016-01-09 1:35 AM AST)

The Cape Breton Elite's have fired back! This just in from Parker. Parker outs himself as a sycophant and a defender of the criminally rich, who accidentally misappropriate public funds, for their gain. These Cape Breton elites are merely consistently lucky when it comes to gov't handouts. And, if you don't like their tax-payer funded wealth, you are just jealous. Got it? If you are not familiar with the word sycophant, you really should be ... it's a slightly more socially appropriate and distinguished way of accurately describing a suckup as they truly are. It's a great word. :D If you accurately describe someone as a _______ , it kind of ruins your credibility. Parker's 'letter to the editor' is long on rhetoric, and short on facts. Not really the hallmark of an 'accomplished' journalist. His letter can be summarized as: My friends are all good. Mary is bad. If this is the best the Cape Breton Elite can manage, I fear for their continued control of the government money and power. This is a pretty weak response, to an incredibly well researched investigative article by Mary P. Campbell. My money, if I had any left, would be on Mary P. Campbell being victorious in getting the truth out. http://www.capebretonpost.com/Opinion/Letter-to-the-Editor/2016-01-08/article-4397869/Sydney-port-column-off-base/1

Posted by Glenn Jessome
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[comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-08 4:58 PM AST [comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-08 5:09 PM AST Glenn Jessome My Post Follow Me 2016-01-08 5:32 PM AST Reply 2 0 I stand by what I wrote, although I admit that I am not an award-winning sycophant. Are you threatening me with legal action? Or, are you merely threatening me with legal action on behalf of the Cape Breton Elite? Oh, and if you think that getting sweetheart deals and tax-payer money, is great business people taking 'risks', then you and I have a different conceptual understanding of the term 'risk'. "If you want to identify who controls a society, identify who you are not allowed to criticize." - Some Award-Winning Journalist I might add a caveat to the above quote ... "Under threat of lawsuit or legal action." Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-01-08 9:36 PM AST Reply 6 0 "Award winning" is a bit irrelevant. A good test of the value of an article or comment is to read it without knowing who wrote it. After all, there have been lots of journalists and anchors who have fallen into disrepute. Let the ideas stand on their own merits. Mary Campbell did a tremendous amount of research, and utilized it to reconstruct a cohesive, excellent overview of the history of port related dealings - and to identify the important and often recurrent stakeholders. Parker largely did as Glenn suggested. He fired off a piece of rhetoric, biased towards his colleagues. And it, in no way, rivals the value of what Mary Campbell provided in her article - though he has the ability to do so with an appropriate effort committed. However, in terms of rhetoric, IMO, it's not very effective. Those suspicious of the port will be even more so with that type of over-prickly response. Dan Yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-09 8:55 AM AST Reply 5 0 Au contraire, what we need is a lot more journalists like Mary providing detailed research that will allow us to make informed decisions and/or ask the right questions. Your comments about Mary's dad and her award status are cheap seat shots - leave the catty stories for Facebook
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-09 8:29 AM AST Reply 3 0 I am going to comment over on the CB Post site, but just in case they don't print it... Parker is merely identifying where he stands on this. It is too bad he has to call down someone else to do it. His opinion would have been equally clear without the direct reference to what he thinks of another professional journalist, Mary Campbell. Where one stands is a good thing to know. I refer to an old saying, everyone should know what side of the fence they are on, who is there with them, and more importantly, who is not. Many people now know if Parker is with them or not, and that is good.
[comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 1:04 PM AST madeline yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-09 1:10 PM AST Reply 2 0 To my knowledge Mary Campbell is a professional journalist who has been happily supporting herself from the North End of Sydney but primarily for business and trade magazines coming out of the States for quite some time, working online. I believe that the arts and crafts Mary you may have noticed around town are what we would call hobbies. This is just my impression, but I don't think she owns us a presentation of her credentials even if she is being criticized as "not a real journalist". Search investment magazines in the states and you might find her name. [comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 1:42 PM AST Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-01-09 1:56 PM AST Reply 2 0 Welcome to the era of social media, where the ideas of everyone matter and the lines between (a) those anointed to speak "for us", "to us", or "over us", and (b) those who are not - are starting to get very blurry and difficult to discern. And that's a good thing. Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-01-09 1:39 PM AST Reply 2 0 Are we reduced to debating whether or not she is a professional journalist or has won awards - rather than discussing the content itself? For perspective, CNN and FoxNews have plenty of highly educated, highly experienced, well travelled, well connected, professional journalists and anchors... Yet they are typically completely at odds with one another, sometimes throw barbs, are often incomplete or inaccurate in data analysis, push headlines primarily based on audience metrics (as it relates to advertising sales), and are not without a history of professional embarrassment. What a truly low value meta discussion this whole issue becomes if we have to pinpoint one of the most valuable contributing voices and question whether or not they have an academic or professional background in journalism, and whether or not they've won awards. But for contrast, I am curious as to if you believe those of us operating in various social media platforms should be held to a lower standard of expectations in our work? https://capebreton.lokol.me/whos-in-the-mayors-pocket https://capebreton.lokol.me/cbrms-grant-winners-of-2015---a-s16-million-free-for-all I think the best response from those who disagree with Mary's data or evaluation of it, would be an equal effort of research, timeline development, and analysis - regardless of the overall position it reflects, one way or another among the multitudinous interpretations possible. Parker Donham just said she made errors, linked to his blog, and didn't provide specifics; while praising his affluent colleagues. And his point about their character and contribution to the community may be completely valid. However, that's certainly not high value journalism, regardless of how many awards he may have. His writing is often sarcastic; he throw jabs; and he gets prickly when commenters draw issues with his ideas. I actually think his work is much better aligned with public relations strategy than with journalism. [comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 1:58 PM AST Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-01-09 2:35 PM AST Reply 0 0 If your primary concern was that Mr. Jessome's writing here should be considered "tripe", you should be aware that through sparking an active meta discussion (aka off topic), you're likely ensuring it continues to get wide distribution via the goCapeBreton daily email summary of active topics - and hence expanding his audience. Whether Parker's response was fair comment or not is subjective and a measure of individual interpretation. I certainly wouldn't take the word of anyone as gospel because they've won an award or two, nor dismiss the ideas of those who haven't. However, there might be a higher expectation (and correlation) of the quality of content from those with certain accolades - though in practise not a universal assurance of such in all that they publish. But Parker is certainly is entitled to having his response as an individual and Cape Bretoner, regardless of his academic or professional background. That same freedom to express is afforded to you and I, as well as Mr. Jessome and Mary Campbell - regardless of the content, sentiment, bias, quality, data or lack thereof, resources utilized, research time invested, or intent of anything we share. Your pieces were excellent in bringing material forward for discussion, and you did quite a bit of work putting them together. Props to you for doing so. But they certainly appeared to have some slant to them as well; not quite ironclad and that's ok. goCapeBreton actually seems to function quite effectively as a platform to create discussions that rival or exceed some of the discussions in traditional media. It's also a vehicle to provide source information and ideas on regionally focused topics that mainstream regional media hadn't identified on their own prior - or weren't aware of the level of interest there was (or engagement possible) for any particular topic. In fact, there's a mutually beneficial two way relationship where social media and traditional media support one another. [comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 4:02 PM AST Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-01-10 7:44 AM AST Reply 0 0 Where do I find the two "investigative pieces" you refer to ??? Glenn Jessome My Post Follow Me 2016-01-09 2:27 PM AST Reply 1 0 A self proclaimed 'professional journalist'/'budding fascist IMO' named Tera Camus wrote the passive aggressive threat to me, "Otherwise keep your mouth/pen closed or prepare to attend court." Fortunately, I use a keyboard, and, I like going to court. ;) [comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 7:10 PM AST Dan Yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-09 2:43 PM AST Reply 2 0 The plus side of this whole discussion is that Mary's article has raised enough ire by those that can not directly refute what she reports that they feel the need to question her integrity as a journalist. In so doing, they are actually fanning the fires of discontent. Greg Macleod’s piece in today’s Post states that it is a “good idea to have some independent body such as the provincial auditor general to review all the dealings mentioned by Mary Campbell”. I agree, and perhaps that should be the focus of this thread rather than semantics on who and what a journalist is. It is true that not all of us can claim a "Like Award" for our journalistic prowess, but most us know the difference between tripe and legitimate pieces that raise questions and concerns. [comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 3:54 PM AST Wayne O'Toole Follow Me 2016-01-10 7:14 AM AST Reply 2 0 Who claimed Mary was "award winning"? Her article is this case is fantastic and very needed. My issue with Parker is he attacks Mary's writing and insults her but provides nothing to support. He does admit to being friends with the crew in question, therefore he is biased in his rebuttal. I have seen debates with Parker, and can make the following observations, if you call him out he attacks, name calls and makes it know "how smart he is and how stupid you are". He IMO, attacked Mary's article because a} he is friends with those mentioned and b} he has issues with someone other then himself getting the spotlight. Instead, if he was such a great journalist, why not actually provide factual details on the why? Why not take piece by piece and break it down with opposition without using name calling.
[comment deleted] Posted 2016-01-09 3:52 PM AST
Parker Donham Follow Me 2016-01-09 5:20 PM AST Reply 1 0 If readers are interested in finding out what's involved in investigative reporting, I recommend the movie SPOTLIGHT, about the Boston Globe's investigation of sexual abuse by Boston-area priests and its coverup by Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as a result of the Globe's stories. The movie gives a very realistic, unromanticized picture of what's involved. Wayne O'Toole Follow Me 2016-01-10 7:16 AM AST Reply 0 0 That's great Parker, but we are more concerned with whats going on in CBRM then how award winning an investigative journalist is. Or how to be one at this point.
Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-01-10 7:38 AM AST Reply 0 0 Is there some way to post all the articles about this story ( Campbell, Donham, MacLeod , Camus ) on this thread of comments so we can read them all in one spot and compare them? Can someone better explain the pieces of land in question such that we can check the public records ? There clearly is a question here about the way the taxpayer dollars are flowing, what parties are investing and benefiting, and then what is the taxpayer getting in return.