Mail Bag

In the blog post titled "The 'Grubby-Looking Hippie' Debacle", I provided excerpts from The Journal-News dated Thursday, July 19, 1979.

I would like to again thank the reader who took the time to point out that Maury Terry wrote the article. 

This sort of thing really only matters if you believe Maury Terry was not a trustworthy newsman. 

But let's get back to the authorship of the July 19th article. 

Below we have the entire thing in full:

As it so happens, Maury was not the sole author of the piece. 

Why this matters is because for a couple of years we've been hearing about what a liar Maury Terry was.

What if Mr. Mitteager was the liar?

What if Mr. Violante lied to Maury?

What if Mr. Violante lied to Mitteager?

What role did an editor play in all of this?

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Instead, let me ask you this: does anyone care to guess what happens to a journalist who tries to make a career out of lying? 

Meet Jayson Blair. He is known as a former journalist.

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I'm not here to defend Maury so much as correct a record that some are making an effort to warp beyond all recognition but please listen to me when I tell you that Maury would not have gotten away with lying year after year, fabricating quotes, fabricating suspects, and so on.

This is completely unrealistic, the notion that Maury Terry could have maintained a career in journalism if he simply lied even a fraction of the amount he has been accused of.

Putting words in the mouths of a Son of Sam witnesses alone would have led to his being drummed out of the industry. 

Maury would not be worth the liability.

If this blog has shown us anything it's that these "lies" Maury allegedly told evaporate when we study all of the facts.  

On the other hand, believe who and what you will. I hate to use the term "uphill battle" because so far it's been very easy to debunk the debunkers (and we're not fighting a real battle here), but I do realize I do have my work cut out for me. 

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Thanks again, everyone, your input and consideration means a lot to me. 

We've got more "Billy" and "Brooklyn Series" lined up, so stick with me.

I might start closing every post with these words of wisdom. It's good advice for me as much as for anyone.