Perfection is a state often pursued but rarely achieved. Even so, that is what we at The Northeast Georgian strive for in absolutely every issue.
Most of the time, we are successful, but there are times that human error – either made by us or someone who is a source – can get in the way.
When it does, we come back to it. We correct it. We own it, and we make it right.
In the case of the article on page 1A of Wednesday’s paper about the fugitive captured in the shooting, that was the information that we were given by official sources.
But the Georgia Bureau of Investigation initially gave the name of the wrong man, not only to us but to other law enforcement agencies in the region.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s office was responsible for pursuing and later getting the tip leading authorities to a house where Henry Parker Whitley was hiding out. Whitley was wanted in an alleged chop shop operation, and officers seized guns, drugs and cash from the home where he was staying. Whitley managed to elude authorities on the day they moved in on him at the house.
As they were initially involved, the GBI informed our sheriff’s office that the guy they were looking for was shot and captured in Gwinnett County. Sheriff Joey Terrell passed that information onto us, but unfortunately, Sheriff Terrell had been misinformed.
The GBI also gave Whitley’s name to the Associated Press, a trusted journalistic outlet which ran a story about the incident. The name appeared on the Facebook pages of multiple law enforcement agencies.
As of Wednesday afternoon, none of the stories online about the incident that mentioned Whitley had been corrected. Sadly, nothing can be done to correct Wednesday’s paper with the right information.
But we want our readers to know that the story was sourced at least three ways, and though the GBI made immediate efforts to correct the error, that information did not reach the proper channels, for whatever reason, and many other agencies did not correct the information. Some had deleted their posts but had not owned up to the error.
So human error was made by the GBI investigator, who worked a 24-hour shift prior to the incident. Errors were made in the retransmission of the correct information, and errors were made by us. We accept our share of blame in that, and everyone who made an error in this case is human.
But whether an error is large or small, we will correct it. We will make it right, because we are not a national “media” outlet that drops a story on you then leaves you to determine if it is right or wrong. We’re your community newspaper.