From the editor at the "other paper" [1]:

The answer is that we aren't covering up the stories, we just don't have them. Sometimes the Halls Shopper beats us on legitimate news. Other times, it publishes stories that don't meet our standards of verification or attribution.

He goes on to say that the Tyler Harber stories are "interesting" and "well written" but the KNS doesn't know if "they are fair and accurate, or even true."

The official response is that Tyler Harber is a "troubled young man." The local "real" media response is that the articles can't be trusted. Maybe so. But is it fair to suggest that the articles aren't "true"?

The way I read them, Betty Bean simply reports what Tyler Harber said, and relates it to events that are on the public record. Are they suggesting she made up the quotes or fabricated the interview? I'm sure that's not what he meant, but that's how it reads.

As for what Tyler Harber says, only Tyler Harber and a handful of others know whether it's "true", but I don't recall Betty Bean's articles drawing any conclusion one way or another.

You could, however, argue as Gene Patterson has that there is a definite spin to the articles. Not that there has ever been any spin whatsoever in any "real" local media reporting.

Whether or not there is anything to Harber's allegations, one thing is for sure: the Halls Shopper went out and got the story and reported it. The other local media didn't. Everything else sounds like sour grapes.

(Note, too, the irony of Jack McElroy's post just below the Halls Shopper post justifying the KNS decision to print confirmation of rumors that have been circulating about the private life of a popular local sports figure. Go figure.)