Tampa News Force Issues Retraction and Apology
Yesterday, Tampa News Force received an email from a high-ranking midlevel bureaucrat with the Florida Public Service Commission, objecting to part of an article titled “Regulators Approve TECO Plan to Screw Customers” and published here at Tampa News Force.com on Wednesday, December 4.
Oddly, the only objections are about the falsely-attributed, fabricated quote and an incorrect job title, and nothing else but Tampa News Force is sensitive to the delicate feelings of our government agencies who exist to serve small local businesses like TECO, and to the fact that some people don’t understand satire or the 1st Amendment. As such, we have replaced the following reckless and fabricated content:
“Sure, we ignored the recommendations of our own staff in making this decision, but it’s not like consumers don’t have other options if they don’t like it,” said Florida Public Service Commission Chairman Gary Clark. “Get the neighbors together and build a windmill or whatever else Amish people do to survive.”
With this:
“Sure, we ignored the recommendations of our own staff in making this decision, but it’s not like consumers don’t have other options if they don’t like it. Get the neighbors together and build a windmill or whatever else Amish people do to survive,” said someone who probably isn’t a member of the commission and definitely is not Gary Clark, a commissioner and not the chairman of the organization whose number one goal as stated in their Public Service Commission Long Range Program Plan FY 2024-25 through 2028-29 is to ‘Ensure that the Florida utilities provide reliable service to customers’ (vaguely threatening web sites that publish unflattering topical local satire does not appear to be officially listed as a goal or directive).
This reckless and fabricated content…
“Sure, we ignored the recommendations of our own staff in making this decision, but it’s not like consumers don’t have other options if they don’t like it,” said Florida Public Service Commission Chairman Gary Clark. “Get the neighbors together and build a windmill or whatever else Amish people do to survive.”
… has been completely removed and will not appear on Tampa News Force.com.
Tampa News Force deeply regrets this error and offers the sincerest possible apology for it. As punishment, Mr. Brooks has been fined one week’s salary for this egregious act of fabricated recklessness.
