(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Rumors, Rosendale, and the difference between media and social media • Daily Montanan [1] ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', 'March'] Date: 2024-03-07 The ol’ journalism adage still holds true: If your mother says she loves you, check her source. Most journalists know the famous phrase, borrowed from a Chicago newsroom, and what it means: Report what you know, not what you think you know. Or what everyone says. Ronald Reagan (of all people) put it another way: Trust but verify. And that’s exactly the situation the Montana media has faced when dealing with rumors surrounding Matt Rosendale’s personal life. The media cannot even talk Rosendale’s high-profile exit from the Senate race without being damned one way or another. I am going to do my best to avoid any specifics about the rumors because journalism isn’t a practice in what we think we know, it’s job is to ascertain what we truly know, based on facts, evidence and often, a written record. And right now, that’s virtually nothing. The Daily Montanan, like many other media outlets, had folks sending us rumors that speculated Rosendale was pulling out of the U.S. Senate race because of turmoil in his personal life. To be clear: As of the writing of this column, not a shred of evidence has surfaced to prove any of it true. The rumor was damning enough that even the mention of the specifics would have tainted his reputation without credible evidence. Taking a stroll through the swamp of social media reveals that the animus against Rosendale is rivaled only by the public’s frustration that few, if any, of the details have been introduced in the reporting. People are turning on the media, believing we have an obligation to report the rumors. They have turned to conspiracy to explain the silence. The reasons for that range on a spectrum from journalistic incompetence to conspiracies and pay-offs. But inasmuch as we read social media and are wonderful at gossip, this situation is the perfect example of what differentiates the media from social media. Social media is the collection of opinion, rumor and fact. Trying sometimes to separate all them is akin to picking out the flour in an already-baked chocolate chip cookie. Journalism, practiced by some in the media, is chasing these rumors and half-truths to find out what’s true and what’s merely a good, but fact-free, story. And facts are something that is verifiable. Most of the time, the truth about any situation comes out. Eventually. Sometimes, the rumors take years. Sometimes, they dissipate into the electronic aether of social media. We have looked into these rumors and so far, nothing has materialized. Because of that, we, like most other Montana media, have remained silent. For some that’s enough evidence of a cover-up, but the reality, it’s evidence of journalism. You could probably run the most basic of searches and find columns in which I have been harshly critical of Rosendale. And, I stand by those opinions. It’s also fair to say that I probably disagree with Rosendale on most issues. But a disagreement of opinion doesn’t give any journalist license to repeat unsubstantiated claims that could destroy him as well as his family. So while some look at the situation and see evidence of conspiracy, laziness or ineptitude, I, instead, see another example of journalism in Montana being small, but still mighty. Rosendale’s sudden exit out of the race that he’d been talking about for years was indeed shocking. It’s even more perplexing because his stated reasons — being short on cash and not being the favored candidate of Trump — were known before he even filed paperwork for the Senate. But, there’s nothing more insincere than a newsman griping about big news, so I’d say that’s very definition of news: What you think will happen doesn’t always come to pass. If there is something real, provable and verifiable to cover, we’ll chase it. Until then, the only difference between the gossip mill and social media is the speed and breadth at which those same rumors fly. Meanwhile, Rosendale himself has traced the rumors back to a talk-show where former Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp seemed to all but confirm the truth of the rumors without specifics. In response to those, the Rosendale camps vowed legal action and a defamation suit against her. Those have yet to materialize. That will be the real tell, of course: Whether Rosendale and his lawyers truly go after Heitkamp may help voters understand the merit of those rumors. Threats are just that. But if Rosendale actually brings a defamation lawsuit, that will be the real measure of the rumor’s veracity because that will include the tools of the court which includes discovery and subpoenas. Right now, it is nothing more than a vicious rumor — a prelude to what promises to be a brutal election season. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/03/07/rumors-rosendale-and-the-difference-between-media-and-social-media/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/