The Wales on Sunday’s star columnist, Matt Withers demonstrated once more today his paper’s maxim of ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good story’ when he took a bit of political knockabout from a Tory blog and turned it into an alleged news item.
Mr. Withers swallowed hook, line and sinker the claim that Welsh Liberal Democrat AM, Mick Bates did not feature on a recent leaflet sent to all homes in the Montgomeryshire constituency. He then went on to compound the error by alleging that this means that Mick has stopped doing his job as an Assembly Member.
Nothing could be further from the truth. If Mr. Withers had bothered getting hold of a copy of the leaflet he would have seen that (a) it is a party political pamphlet, promoting candidates in the next two sets of elections and thus nothing to do with the work of the local Assembly Member; and (b) it did feature Mick Bates.
Mick Bates of course does continue to work hard as the local Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire both in his constituency and in Cardiff Bay and can often be seen in his office before 8am on sitting days. The allegation by Matt Withers that Mick has not been seen in the Assembly for two months is an outright lie, easily rebutted by just checking the Record of Proceedings.
After the newspaper stories about his run-in with an ambulance crew, Mick took one week off sick during which time he also worked in his constituency office, whilst seeking appropriate medical advice, but he was back in the Assembly and voting immediately after half term and he has been there ever since.
Perhaps Matt Withers could do some basic checking in future instead of just promoting the interests of Conservative and Plaid Cymru candidates in his column.
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Reality check. Was the article in the WoS not just pointing out the hypocricy of your party leader. She sent Mick home on full pay but called on other AMs to give their pay back for not crossing a picket line. So Lib Dems gets paid for NOT working, but other AMs shouldn’t get paid for working (just not in the Senedd).
Are you trying to misundertand or are you really that dull?
But that is the point. Both you and the Wales on Sunday have your facts wrong because neither of you checked. Mick was not sent home on full pay, he stayed in Montgomery because he was unwell and needed medical attention.
In the States, the established press fact-checks while the popular broadcast media make up what stories suit them. Over here, the reverse is the case. Since the dead tree press is declining, our situation is probably better.