It has come to our attention that while one of our staff was interviewing local Lander citizens in the fallout after the John Wayne case (destruction of a poster), he repeatedly made comments and asked directed questions with the aim of shifting popular opinion about the political assassination and the outcome of a trial as yet undetermined at the time.
This situation came to our attention amid several complaints that we had become as “biased as any other media” and were entirely “fake news”. We deeply do not want any of this to be true about us, and while we officially deny any bias in our reporting, we have, as yet, of course, not actually reported on the situation, the private opinions of one person trying to seek justice for a personal friend at the same time as he lawfully and normally collected information about an event, is rightfully suspicious, as Rinju pointed out to us. Our interviewer, in engaging in arguments to defend Nathan Hatley from what are truthfully complex accusations of negligence in defending the poster in a complex situation, acted outside of any official duties from the IIT board or any of his position with IIT.
We want nothing to do with fake news, (as we’re really satire here) and we aim for truth above political bias in all of our work. As this bias may have unduly influenced our reporting had we immediately published an article on the John Wayne affair, we at the behest of concerned citizens such as Michael Rose and Rinuj, decided first to complete an internal review of all evidence related to the highly controversial situation before publishing. After a long investigation, we have determined that there was no fault or show of bias in the statements and evidence per se but only per accidens appearance of bias in the habitude of the reporter as he collected them. Thus, we now plan soon to treat the John Wayne incident in a brief, and yet brutally honest manner in an upcoming article.
This comes as something of a risk in itself, given that we have received several requests and demands do stay quiet about the whole affair to defend the honor of a certain political unit. But since we are beholden to truth and justice above benefits to any such certain units, we believe that we should report about the John Wayne affair, that is is our patriotic duty to do so (patriotic as to the larger political body of which we are all a part: the community as a whole and its overall good) and that such a treatment will not give unmerited glory to the thief of John Wayne nor demean those who sought justice in his return.
We apologize for any appearance of bias and for the actions of bias in an employee per accidens to his work with us. The Irkutsk Ice Truckers team thanks you all for your loyal readership and we hope you continue to trust our accurately equivocal reporting, this matter, we hope, serving the more to underlie our fairness than to suggest any per se bias.
Gratias Vobis,
Everett Polinski
Chairman – Irkutsk Ice Truckers / IIT News Corp Ltd.