Hinterland Gazette Responds to Art Franklin's Call, on Behalf of Bishop Eddie L. Long, to Retract Statements About Vanessa Long

Art Franklin of Franklin Media Group LLC issued a series of statements in local Atlanta media (WSB-TV, 11 Alive News & the Atlanta Journal Constitution) calling for bloggers to retract comments made about the alleged break-up of Bishop Eddie L. Long's marriage to Vanessa Long. It was reported by MrMoKelly.com that the couple had split up. We cited our source and sought a statement from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church on the report. Mr. Franklin neither returned our phone calls nor responded via email. Here is a copy of the email we sent to him today:

to artfranklin@franklinmediagroupllc.com
date Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 5:59 PM
subject RE: Public Statements by New Birth on Vanessa Long
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 5:59 PM (15 minutes ago)
Dear Mr. Franklin,

I called you on two occasions to get a statement about the current state of the Long marriage and the settlement. I have yet to receive a phone call from you. Nor did I receive an email response from you, having left my email address on the voice mail message. I take offense to you denigrating the names of decent, law-abiding and professional journalists and bloggers like myself. I cited my source in ALL the articles I have written about Bishop Long. I am journalist and a professional one too. I won't retract my articles either until we hear from Mrs. Long and not from a Public Relations mouthpiece.

You did not check the backgrounds of the bloggers you referred to in your email or you would realize the editors and contributor at The Hinterland Gazette are professionals. I am neither afraid of you nor Bishop Long, who owes the members of his church and supporters of his ministry more than a narcissistic attitude in the aftermath of settlement of damning allegations of sexual misconduct. I would urge you not to throw one of the five stones Bishop Long promised to throw the young men to fight the allegations at respectable bloggers. The Hinterland Gazette has a solid history of reporting facts, unreported stories and have interviewed many, many movers and shakers in the black community. We don't engage in hearsay and gossip.

I must say that as a journalist, I am very disappointed in your response. Everything we report at The Hinterland Gazette carries with it our integrity and we do not loosely report gossip. Based on information found on other websites, we presented the story and sought clarification for you, but you did not have the professional wherewithal to respond as a former journalist. We quite clearly cited our sources, as you can see from the links accompanying each article.

Respect is due to us as members of the journalism profession. We are holding you to the highest levels of journalistic professionalism on any requests we make now or in the future.

--
Janet Shan
janet@thewriteedge.com