Scott McCaffrey Throws a Fit; Maybe This Is Progress?

Hey Scott, when you go around and talk to kids do you tell them how you withhold information? Since you seem to lurk around here, why don't you go ahead and reveal which Town Council member proposed to ban the video taping of public meetings? You do call yourself a journalist?

It's TRUE - You people on the FAR SIDE of HV have just become parodies of yourselves -You are the LAUGHING STOCK of the entire Town - You people are jokes!

You've gone way, way too far. Some orginal points were very valid, and you started out with good stuff. But now, you've digressed into complete silliness, and I don't know a single sane minded Vienna Citizen who takes you seriously! Enough with the inane attacks! For the Love of God, let the 2007 Election GO! YES, it is TRUE (Props to You) that Rhoda Stevens DID make some inappropriate comments. Not a lot, but TWO complaints were filed with the State-- one ATTORNEY in her mid thirties (hardly "old") and one other woman in her 50s.(So WHO are these "old people" that can't think for themselves??)

Who's posting that the "police" were called? Police have NOTHING to do with Election Law - It's not an Arrestable Offense unless someone is shot...Which did not happen.

State Officials oversee County Law, and the COUNTY, NOT THE TOWN OF VIENNA oversees local elections - So, IF there is a beef, bring it up to the County!

But really, there was "no beef." TWO people were accosted (albeit inappropriately) but certainly, the vote did not turn on TWO individuals.

You people are really angry. Perhaps sick. If you don't like Vienna, and can't stand the heat, why don't you just move the H*&ll out of the kitchen?

It has nothing to do with playing a "game" unless you call being civil a game. You certainly have a right to express your opinion, but apparently you don't care that the shrill, mocking, attacking tone of your blog will turn away 90% of the people that you presumably want to get through to.

Instead of using the forum as a way to get out your emotions, why not make the same attacks but without the personal vindictiveness and vitrtiol and I'm sure you will have a lot more people behind you.

This kind of negativism may work for some, but in general people prefer to be around (and listen to and read) people who are not constantly yelling and bitching. Maybe you don't care or you don't feel you should need to cater your personality, but this "game" is called society and living with others and if you play badly, which it seems you are, you end up losing. If you don't want to "play" you are forfeiting. Either way, you aren't getting what you want, unless that is to just be bitter and let everyone else know about it...

Who is throwing a fit now? And who is using there bully bully pulpit to do so?

Yep Scott you are the only game in town. And when there is only one source of information - I find that scary! Which is why in this small town of corruption it is vital for transparency through video taping all meetings!
Ahh the new "journalism" get rid of any other voice.

Am I reading the script for another Mrs. Lubner SNL script? Is Scott the idiot child of Mrs. Lubner? Sounds too silly to be true. Scott's main flaw is that he simply does not abide by the Code of Ethics as stated by the Society of Professional Journalists:

Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should:

— Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
— Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
— Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
— Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
— Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
— Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.
— Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
— Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
— Never plagiarize.
— Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
— Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
— Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
— Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
— Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
— Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
— Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.
— Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public's business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

Minimize Harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

Journalists should:

— Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
— Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
— Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
— Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.
— Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.

Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

Journalists should:

—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:

— Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
— Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
— Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
— Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
— Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Scott, when you have participated in a hiding or cover-up of what this countries founding fathers thought was so tantamount in providing for a society with the freedom of words and press, and that includes the reporting on any person or persons who act in any way to prohibit or act in any way to infringe on these rights, you, Scott, by keeping silent on this event with the Town of Vienna, simply puts you side by side with these same people. You are no better than a person who wishes to commit treason against the United States of America, and you think you can call yourself a journalist?!

Get a clue, and why don't you get a job flipping burgers at Hardees, because that's all you are good for. You are NOT a journalist just because someone lets you type a few words or paragraphs in some rag and allows you to put your name beside these words.

You are NOT a Journalist, you are a disgrace in anybodies book.

Julie, can you elaborate on your post: Scott is one of the threesome who collaborated on a couple of scurrilous mystery novels that totally trashed several on Arlington's Board of Supervisors and several environmental and housing activists for not being sufficiently in-line with the County's yuppification program. ? Do you know anything about where he went to school, college, where he grew up?

You people are really angry. Perhaps sick. If you don't like Vienna, and can't stand the heat, why don't you just move the H*&ll out of the kitchen?

That's good. First step is to release, vent...great. Feel better? Now, remember, this site will be here until the losers running Vienna into the ground are gone. Got it?

but apparently you don't care that the shrill, mocking, attacking tone of your blog will turn away 90% of the people that you presumably want to get through to.

Instead of using the forum as a way to get out your emotions, why not make the same attacks but without the personal vindictiveness and vitrtiol and I'm sure you will have a lot more people behind you.

This kind of negativism may work for some, but in general people prefer to be around (and listen to and read) people who are not constantly yelling and bitching.

You could care less whether this guy uses his post at a paper to cover up wrong doing by Vienna officials? The only thing you care about is whether this site presents a message in a "happy" format? You my dear are an ***.

Scotty states:

"When it comes to small-town politics, it's a simple case of "those who can, do; those who can't, complain."

One incumbent since the early 1970s has been defeated in Vienna. With elections every year Scott, how exactly is the machine supposed to be penetrated? Yes, it is a machine buddy boy. I guess when someone wants to run for Mayor of Chicago - you just run and that's it? You are a mindless twit.

I'm often one who questions the HV line on things, but I've gotten more news from reading this site than I've ever gotten out of the Sun Gazette. The mainstream media's days of controlling the information is over... long live the blogs like HV!

I wonder if he would have the same reader base if instead of pretending to be unbiased, he just declared himself biased as he is? Clearly, part of his job success lies in the fact that so many people are lost in outer space, unable to discern when a so-called unbiased journalist is just a mouthpiece with an agenda.

Looks like there is another Susan commenting on this site. I will say though new Susan your comments are not very constructive!

Having read some of Scott's blog I was amazed (I hope I spelled that wright) at his knitpicking of other publications and even radio stations. The retorts serve no useful purpose and are really none of his business. This is a guy who speaks ill about HV posters who have a direct interest in what the TOV is doing to their lives.

It sounds like this paper is Scott's playground.

How Much?

In round figures the public information office which consists of one employee has a total budget of $150,000. The employees salary is $70,000 and benefits total is $27,000.

What has the Sun-Gazette done for the TOV lately?

Realtor-Editor McCaffrey published an informercial for Long and Foster this week as news. Conflict of interest?

I was surprised to see how many tracking cookies and how much spyware the Sun-Gazette attempted to install on my PC when I visited the SG's Web site. McCaffrey runs the site and the blogs.

Snotty is the other person on the TOV's PR team. They love him at the Town Hall.

Snotty drivels at length in the SG about his personal life in Arlington (where he lives) but we can't get the truth out of him about the politricksters he interviews at length at Town Hall. What a creep.

You only have to go to sungazette.com to see how pathetic the NoVa Sun Gazette Newspapers are on-line compared to what 21st Century Journalism is all about. Print version of the NoVa Sun Gazette is even worse vs. the best regional papers.

I visited sungazette.com. WOW.

The DC metro area is not becoming a backwater, we ARE a backwater; media, transportation, housing, development, local government, we are mediocre and getting worse.

According to the Williamsport Sun Gazette (sungazette.com) 168 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are locked in shale deposits in PA-NY-WV only a couple hundred miles from DC.

The Virginia Sun Gazette newspapers are an embarrassment to the profession of Journalism.

Williamsport SG is the future of on-line news.

If you read through the articles about gas drilling you will see that a Penn State geologist estimates 167-515 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are locked in shale deposits and recoverable. That's the equivalent of 30 to 100 billion barrels of oil. These deposits are typically 200 miles inland from major East Coast cities.

I agree, DC metro area is a backwater. Huge amounts of effort are expended on preserving and protecting the status quo. NOVA SG under McCaffrey's editorship is a prime example.

Scott McCaffrey's agenda is protecting and promoting the status quo, distracting readers with his personal drivel, and name calling and in various other ways trashing anyone who threatens the status quo. The Northern VA Sun Gazette is an extremely effective propaganda tool for re-electing those in power.

Scotty's latest scam is to partner the for-profit Sun Gazette with a non-profit that is heavily funded by Arlington taxpayers named Arlington Independent Media (AIM). Taxpayer funded AIM will produce video sports broadcasts for the on-line Sun Gazette just as taxpayers fund the local government PR teams that produce the press releases that Snotty prints as "news."

God, you are the biggest group of losers I have ever had the painful experience of reading. Why don't you all get lives so I don't have to read the mindless chatter on this site.

Yours truly,
Somebody who's glad not to live in Vienna anymore because of people like you.