Monday Afternoon - 6/10/13:
I did a little bit of digging based on Mr. Fingaz having said that he had spoken with the Director of Celebrate Fairfax because I wanted to know if he had told the truth. Well, there are 3 Directors and they are all women so I assumed this male Director was imaginary. But, being the professional that I am… journalistic integrity, truth-seeker, etc. I called the main line and pressed whatever button connected me to Media and Communications. I got the voicemail of VP and Managing Director Meagan Butkus. I left Ms. Butkus a message regarding this incident and let her know I was fact checking for an article I was writing.
Tuesday Morning - 6/11/13:
I received a call back from none other than the CEO & President of Celebrate Fairfax, Mr. Barry Feil. This is the person with whom Fingaz spoke so it was actually appropriate he was the person to return my call. I essentially got the Final Word on this situation “straight from the horse’s mouth” as they say.
No Mr. Feil, while I did take several courses related to journalism at George Mason University and worked for the Times Community Newspapers for nearly 2 years, I am not now nor have I ever been a reporter. But, I also never claimed to be. All I said was “I’m writing an article and am attempting to do some fact checking." As you can see, that was true. For all you know it could’ve been an article for karaoke enthusiasts, which is also actually kind of true.
I did want to be a newspaper reporter several years ago. But, the specific courses for the concentration in Journalism conflicted with my full-time work schedule at the time and paying my rent in full on time was of higher priority to me than selecting this particular concentration. I decided to go with Public Relations instead because the courses were nearly identical and the potential income of PR executives is A LOT more than that of a reporter unless you are Brian Williams or Katie Couric.
However, I am a published author and current blog writer, which in its essence is tantamount to being a reporter. Blogs seem to be the beginning of all things newsworthy these days and reputable media sources circulate our posts through the PR newswires. If I put enough SEO’s in this post and somebody decides the content of any or all of it is “newsworthy” it is very likely this story could become the basis for other articles then published by what you would consider more reputable media outlets.
In the meantime, please note that our obscure little blog which has only existed for about 2 months, is read in, at last count, fifteen countries on four continents and gets anywhere from 100-200 clicks on an average day. However, my readership has quintupled since I began this FCKC War with ACI series of posts and continues to grow. The only people who know that are me and the watchdogs at Adsense who decided I have satisfied their readership requirements sufficiently enough to allow me to have paid advertising on my blog.
Why am I telling you all this Mr. Feil? Because you gave me your word that you would update the rules for the FCKC next year to reflect what we discussed and I intend to hold you to that. I encourage my readers to do so as well. I would also suggest that you read The FCKC War with ACI Part 5: The Judges, The Judging, and the Outdated, Arbitrarily Non-Officially Changed Rules to see the other rules that should probably be updated while you are at.
Stay tuned for Part Seven - The Conclusion of the FCKC War with ACI....
And just in case you missed them:
