Martin County environmental lawyer Virginia Sherlock’s reply to a nasty attack.
Yellow Journalist Green with Envy
By Virginia Sherlock
Poor Nancy Smith. The editor of a web-based news outlet operated by political hacks in Tallahassee has worked herself into a frenzy over Martin County’s success in avoiding overdevelopment and economic disaster that has plagued so much of the state.
Smith attacks those who have done what she has been unable to do. She is green with envy that while her rantings and ravings are often ignored and mocked by the policy-makers she wants to influence, Martin County citizens speak up and make ourselves heard by elected representatives who care what we have to say.
Martin County residents are proud of their environmentally and economically robust community. And residents can justifiably claim credit for the success we enjoy. When we see a threat to our quality of life, we take action to protect what we have. We take on All Aboard Florida, Big Sugar and other polluters of our rivers, estuary and lagoon, and developers who want to turn our agriculturally rich western lands into new cities at the expense of local taxpayers.
Smith failed miserably while she was an editor at the Stuart News to convince Martin County residents that wildlife, wetlands, and native vegetation should be replaced by urban development. She now lashes out at her former employer for endorsing the re-election of Commissioners Sarah Heard and Ed Fielding and uses her on-line blog to bash those she perceives as responsible for her journalistic and political embarrassment.
Smith is a classic yellow journalist. (Yellow journalism presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques include exaggeration, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. – Wikipedia)
Case in point: Smith’s August 11, 2014, blog “Virginia Sherlock, Martin County Litigator de Sade.” Catchy headline. But comparing me to the French writer famous for erotic writings about pornography, violence, and blasphemy against the Catholic Church? Really?
Of course, truth doesn’t matter to the yellow journalist. Provocative headlines, exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering and sensationalism are her currency.
Smith offers no support for her claim that Maggy Hurchalla, Donna Melzer and I “make all the decisions – yes, all of the ones that matter” in Martin County. If that were true, Martin County would not be spending more than a million dollars on a fee-based Customs facility at the local airport. The Customs facility, the most controversial project in Martin County in recent months, was approved by the County Commission, despite the fact that I strongly and publicly opposed it.
Read the entire story online:
http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2014/08/sunshine-state-news-pr-flak-for-right.html