Editorial: Extending apologies to Barbara Presnell and John Spillman

No one likes admitting to a mistake, especially those who work in the media. But everyone likes reading about them. So here goes. 

Davidson Local has a small (mostly volunteer) team dedicated to the concept of Free Hyperlocal News. Thursday, we made the mistake of attributing a story written by John Spillman, Davidson GOP Vice Chair and Brand Manager, to contributor Barbara Presnell. The mistake was most likely a tech error due to a non-political , contributed piece that Presnell recently shared with Davidson Local. Spillman appeared as the author at the bottom of the op-ed.

I’ve spent more than 20 years of my life admiring people who are willing to speak up. We failed many of those people on Thursday. Anyone who has followed my previous columns knows that Barbara Presnell is one of my writer heroes! In fact, her husband Bill was my first editor through the For Youth Information page of The Dispatch. I let them down.

The error caused harm to the reputation of writers and Davidson Local. We take that seriously. As a writer, I've been on the other side of a bad headline or a brutal edit. What happened yesterday is one of my worst nightmares.

See: Op-ed: Mistakes happen by Barbara Presnell

You might have noticed we have received a number of political columns and rebuttals lately. We work hard to share the balance. Personal thoughts aside...local is our collective bias.

We will likely take a break from the rebuttals-to-rebuttals. I think we've exhausted stories from the Red Wave versus Blue Wave debate. We do more than publish political debates.

This week will feature a signature arts event. This Saturday we are co-hosting a FREE movie night featuring The Wiz!

I find hope that many KNEW we got it wrong and called us out. I had at least 15 calls, messages and emails before 9am.

I extend my apologies to all. Thank you for trusting us enough (even when you don’t agree) to read opinions from your neighors.

Sincerely,

Antionette