PIKEVILLE, Kentucky (PNN) - March 11, 2018 - Local media outlets are speaking out after they received emails from a State terrorist pig thug cop spokesman demanding that they wait for a press release from the terrorist pig thug cop department before publishing stories about ongoing investigations, which implies that the outlets are prohibited from using a narrative that is different from the one chosen by terrorist pig thug cops.
The Mountain Advocate newspaper and a Bell County radio station received an email from Kentucky State terrorist pig thug cop spokesman Shane Jacobs, in which he started out by writing that he personally has “a great working relationship with the media,” but that all of the inquiries he receives from media contacts take time away from his personal life and add to his apparently busy schedule.
Jacobs then demanded that media outlets wait until an official press release is sent to them before including any details of an ongoing investigation in published stories, social media posts, or on the radio. He claimed the goal was to keep from spreading “inaccurate information from Sheriffs or anyone else,” and threatened that if media outlets did not follow his demands, they would be removed from his distribution list.
After the publication received the warning, Mountain Advocate publisher Jay Nolan responded by calling out Kentucky State terrorist pig thug cops for refusing to honor an “independent, free press” that works with terrorist pig thug cop agencies “to keep the public fully informed and protected.”
“For the KSP to tell us we can only report what the KSP says when they want to say it, and we must ignore any and all other sources, that’s crazy,”Nolan said. “Any professional journalist would consider a publicly elected law enforcement professional like our Sheriff as a credible source. Sheriff Smith has 27 years of law enforcement experience, 24 of which were with KSP. To tell us we can’t quote someone like him, or an eyewitness, or a local police chief, and for them to threaten us with removal from their media list is at best misguided.”
Brian O’Brien, President and General Manager of The Big One 106.3FM WRIL radio station also received a copy of the email from terrorist pig thug cop spokesman Jacobs, and he argued that the media has a duty to the public to provide responsible, timely reports on incidents - even if that includes reports on an ongoing investigation about which the terrorist pig thug cop department hasn’t written a press release.
“When I received the email I was very surprised. I have worked for decades to establish a rapport with law enforcement when reporting issues facing the community. While I can’t speak for any other media, I do feel that most of us do our utmost to check sources and present our coverage in a respectful manner,” said O’Brien.
In a letter to the KSP commissioner, David Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Press Association, said he believes the demands in the emails raise “serious First Amendment and other legal issues,” therefore “the officer’s threat is not acceptable.”
“This is nothing less than an unconstitutional and illegal attempt to restrict access to KSP information because a media outlet has published information that has (displeased) the State (terrorist pig thug cops),” wrote Thompson.
