How Flow And Inference Can Change A News Article Posted on April 1st, 2010 by Simon Barrett in Society and Culture Read 968 times. An article was released recently pertaining to the Haleigh Cummings case. It is amazing what you can do with flow and infer

How Flow And Inference Can Change A News Article
Posted on April 1st, 2010
by Simon Barrett

An article was released recently pertaining to the Haleigh Cummings case. It is amazing what you can do with flow and inference within an article. This article claimed that Misty Croslin had underwent yet another polygraph, and had ‘flunked miserably’.

Using some rather nebulous language it was inferred that one source of this information was Sgt Charles (Chuck) Mulligan who is the press liaison officer for St Johns where Misty Croslin is being held.

I talked with Sgt Mulligan a few minutes ago, actually I was calling about the latest DVD’s that were released on the case. I brought up the subject of the article in question. His response was that when he became aware of the article (earlier today) he called the journalist in question and requested that it be changed to clarify what he actually said.

At no point during his earlier discussion with Art Harris did he even mention the word polygraph. He also went on to explain that he does not, and will not comment on activities that occur outside of his area of responsibility. He did point out that the Haleigh Cummings investigation is ongoing, and as a consequence PCSO have travelled to St, Johns on several occasions to interview Misty Croslin. This event was no different to any of the others.

Sgt Mulligan is the link between St. Johns and the press, and he is an incredibly helpful man. Often times his position is a thankless task, and not one that is high on anyones ‘best job in the world’ list. Lets face it, who wants to have to deal with members of the press?

I did notice that Art Harris has modified his article slightly, a minor tweak has been made to it.

The paragraph used to read:

“The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department arranged it, picked her up and took her to an interview room in our jail,” recalled Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the sheriff’s department in St. John’s County outside St. Augustine, Florida. For all other questions, he referred us to PCSD, where no one would officially confirm or deny the Croslin test ever happened.

It now reads:

“The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department arranged it, picked her up and took her to an interview room in our jail,” recalled Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the sheriff’s department in St. John’s County outside St. Augustine, Florida who later requested we clarify that he didn’t know the nature of the meeting. For all other questions, he referred us to PCSD, where no one would officially confirm or deny the Croslin test ever happened.

It is a cute modification. It is subtle.

Having spent some time talking to Sgt. Chuck Mulligan today, I think it would be fair to say that at no point did he suggest to Art Harris that a polygraph was involved. While this might not have been a shameless ’self advertising’ stunt by Art, rather just journalism stupidity, it does give you pause for thought.

Simon Barrett
Posted on April 1st, 2010
by Simon Barrett in Society and Culture
Read 968 times.

An article was released recently pertaining to the Haleigh Cummings case. It is amazing what you can do with flow and inference within an article. This article claimed that Misty Croslin had underwent yet another polygraph, and had ‘flunked miserably’.

Using some rather nebulous language it was inferred that one source of this information was Sgt Charles (Chuck) Mulligan who is the press liaison officer for St Johns where Misty Croslin is being held.

I talked with Sgt Mulligan a few minutes ago, actually I was calling about the latest DVD’s that were released on the case. I brought up the subject of the article in question. His response was that when he became aware of the article (earlier today) he called the journalist in question and requested that it be changed to clarify what he actually said.

At no point during his earlier discussion with Art Harris did he even mention the word polygraph. He also went on to explain that he does not, and will not comment on activities that occur outside of his area of responsibility. He did point out that the Haleigh Cummings investigation is ongoing, and as a consequence PCSO have travelled to St, Johns on several occasions to interview Misty Croslin. This event was no different to any of the others.

Sgt Mulligan is the link between St. Johns and the press, and he is an incredibly helpful man. Often times his position is a thankless task, and not one that is high on anyones ‘best job in the world’ list. Lets face it, who wants to have to deal with members of the press?

I did notice that Art Harris has modified his article slightly, a minor tweak has been made to it.

The paragraph used to read:

“The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department arranged it, picked her up and took her to an interview room in our jail,” recalled Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the sheriff’s department in St. John’s County outside St. Augustine, Florida. For all other questions, he referred us to PCSD, where no one would officially confirm or deny the Croslin test ever happened.

It now reads:

“The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department arranged it, picked her up and took her to an interview room in our jail,” recalled Sgt. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the sheriff’s department in St. John’s County outside St. Augustine, Florida who later requested we clarify that he didn’t know the nature of the meeting. For all other questions, he referred us to PCSD, where no one would officially confirm or deny the Croslin test ever happened.

It is a cute modification. It is subtle.

Having spent some time talking to Sgt. Chuck Mulligan today, I think it would be fair to say that at no point did he suggest to Art Harris that a polygraph was involved. While this might not have been a shameless ’self advertising’ stunt by Art, rather just journalism stupidity, it does give you pause for thought.

Simon Barrett

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