Hey, State of Belief (SOB?): Was that before or after it started shaking down advertisers (pay day lenders?) for more ad revenue in exchange for more favorable editorials?

PS: The combo of whining plus the other undesirable personality traits equals sorta sad.

The stories posted on FITSnews can’t really be viewed as “news” (as much as it seems that you to really, really, REALLY want them to be viewed) because of the nature of the website and the company and clients for which it is produced.

Because of that, every post written on FITSnews must be viewed by legitimate, traditional news sources as a news release, or the more dated “press release.”

The State is not a PR firm as much as you’d like to try and paint it as one working for “the status quo” or the “the education establishment.”

It is a newspaper that is able to produce (albeit shrinkingly) because of advertising sales, subscriptions and newsbox sales.

FITSnews is able to produce because of paid clients.

Why you would get so bent out of shape that The State is not sourcing you as a news breaker is kind of odd.

Is the umbrage you take at it sincere? Do you really think a PR firm’s website aught to be given credit for “uncovering a scandal?”

Wouldn’t you be upset if The State was crediting the website for RISE SC for “breaking news” about the voucher lobby?

Any casual reader of your website could already picture that headline.

If all this commotion really is out of jealousy then it’s understandable. But you decided to make your living as a PR guy writing a website for clients and not as a journalist. And since you probably make more money than most reporters at The State these days, I’d be happy with it and let it be for what it is.

I’m sure there are people who don’t know clients pay you and your service FITSnews and there may be some who take the posts here as actual “news.”

And yes, that is there fault for doing so.

But by writing this letter to Mr. Lett and then publishing it here, it’s almost as if your trying to reinforce that kind of thought, that somehow this website is NOT the blogging tool of a PR firm for paid clients, and should be sourced by The State for “breaking news” independently.

The rapid decline of the MSM in general (and local dailies in particular) is one of the biggest stories to hit the mass media scene in years. I still think the most amusing aspect of the story, though, is the fact that even as papers report on it, they still don’t get it.

Unless Obama and his cronies bail them out (which appears less and less likely based upon the current political environment and anti-bailout sentiment), the newspaper scene 5-10 years from now will be absolutely unrecognizable to the current crop of senior editors, who started their careers in the 70’s and 80’s.

Josh ain’t worried bout the females, ya know what I’m saying …