Sheriff's New Blog Takes Aim At Media
Donna Rossi
Reporter, KPHO.com

POSTED: 5:11 pm MST August 26, 2009
UPDATED: 6:51 pm MST August 26, 2009

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has launched a new blog on his department's Web site. It is called "The Truth Behind the Headlines" and it takes aim at media coverage Arpaio believes is inaccurate and incomplete.

So far, the posts have been in direct response to newpaper articles about the sheriff and his office, all of which he said are skewed against him. The sheriff is also using the blog to respond to editorials printed in the paper.

"We just want an avenue to respond. I don't serve any governor or politician. I serve the people and I want to get to the people some way to let them know don't believe everything you read in the papers, or even sometimes on television," said Arpaio.

The sheriff says many times people write editorials and use information that they've read or heard as fact and that misrepresents his office.

"I just want to make sure, especially on editorials that are so far out and wrong, I want to make sure the public knows the truth," said the sheriff.

The sheriff sent a department wide email to let his employees know the blog existed. He believes his 2,700 employees read the paper and watch television and deserve to know the rest of the story from his perspective.

The blog can be seen at msco.org.

http://www.kpho.com/news/20572611/detail.html