In a noteworthy instance of editorial rectification, Texas Monthly amended a misattribution in an article written by Rob D’Amico, managing editor of the Big Bend Sentinel and contributor to Texas Monthly. D’Amico initially described a widely commented social media post from the Big Bend Times as a mere “local Facebook post,” diminishing our journalistic contribution and misrepresenting the source of considerable community feedback. When we at the Big Bend Times reached out for a correction, D’Amico’s response was dismissive and sharply critical of our journalistic integrity:
“Shouldn’t you be spending your time going after local food banks or something? No, I’m not going to do that. Look, you take a lot of fun, interesting photos highlighting the Big Bend. But you are not a media outlet, the ‘stories’ you do post are bland likely AI, or they attack people. I use ‘attack’ because you aren’t pursuing any leads that ever go anywhere for the good of the community. It’s just fighting with folks for fighting’s sake. You have a warped sense of journalistic ethics, mainly meaning you don’t have any, and your views of how the new digital news world needs to exist is shallow.”
Despite the initial reaction from D’Amico, our commitment to professional journalism and factual accuracy prevailed. We maintained our stance and continued to advocate for the correction. The editors at Texas Monthly eventually reviewed the situation and rightly updated the article to accurately attribute the source of the comments to the Big Bend Times, including a direct link to our original article.
This editorial correction by Texas Monthly not only rectified the oversight but also highlighted the importance of journalistic integrity and collaborative spirit within the media community. It serves as a reminder of the responsibilities that journalists and editors have to uphold accurate reporting and to support each other in the pursuit of delivering news that accurately reflects the source and context of the information being reported.
