Another fake news story went viral over the weekend and it is very disappointing to watch that crap spread. Early Saturday morning I saw a tweet from a girl named Storm Durham who claimed she was fired from a job with the City of Roanoke because she has a concealed carry permit. That sounds weird. So let’s, wait for it, do the bare minimum to, here comes a tricky word, investigate.
A few websites that claim to carry news picked up the story after a ton of pro-2A people spread it far and wide. Let’s break for a quick disclaimer: I’m as pro-2A as the next guy.
But I’m also someone who believes the news needs to report the truth, and not push some pre-conceived narrative. Conservatives are quick to point out the fake news garbage spread daily by CNN and hacks like Jim Acosta. Well, we need to be just as careful to not spread our own pre-conceived narratives when we see something that doesn’t sound right.
Case in point; a girl is fired for having a concealed carry permit. So what did the City of Roanoke say? ALL the stories that were posted on Saturday did not include a statement from the City. Only the fired girl is quoted. How can they rush to print this without the whole story?
We sent the City of Roanoke an email asking for a statement on the firing. At 4pm on Saturday the City released a statement publicly and they emailed me their response, which is copied and pasted below.
“Roanoke, VA – A former employee of the City of Roanoke recently posted via social media assertions regarding the basis of her dismissal from City employment. Her posting has also been reported in other media. The City does not publically comment on specific personnel matters. In light of these assertions, however, it is important to note that the City of Roanoke respects the Constitutional rights of its citizens and that the dismissal in question was not based upon anyone’s exercise of such rights.”
We then reached out directly to Storm and asked her if she could quote the person who fired her, even though she had already listed her claim on several platforms that being called “a safety risk” was entirely because of the concealed carry permit. As of late Sunday night we have not heard from her.
Give us a break. Even her own Facebook video lists other reasons why she was let go. We highly doubt the supervisor said the firing was because of the concealed carry permit.
The most likely scenario here is that this young girl is a bad employee who was fired with cause. She then took a dishonest approach to render payback. We see no reason to believe her.
But hearing an entirely one-sided story didn’t stop The Daily Caller and Townhall from running it. Maybe it stopped The Roanoke Times because they didn’t touch this story as it was going viral.
And probably the most disappointing part of all of this is more than one candidate for public office has spread this fake news story without doing any due diligence to confirm its accuracy.
Journalism is dead in today’s lightning fast internet age. Find it and run with it hard, then bury it if it’s false with another story, then repeat, repeat, repeat, is the new formula for click bait internet news. This has to stop.
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