Matthew Cardinale, editor of Atlanta Progressive News, took issue with a blog post I wrote that criticized articles on his website concerning candidates in the mayor's race. I admit I was somewhat harsh, but I feel my points were valid. Still, in the spirit of journalistic goodwill, we're giving Cardinale the opportunity to respond. (For the record, we've trimmed his letter for the sake of space and relevance — and I added my own annotations.) Enjoy:

In a post entitled, "Where Mary, indeed?," writer Scott Henry makes a number of false, unsubstantiated, defamatory, unprofessional and vicious statements regarding me and my publication, the Atlanta Progressive News.

The relevant text is as follows:

“The latest negative tidbit to surface is a weird piece of innuendo proffered by the Atlanta Progressive News, which is something of a far-left blog masquerading as a media outlet. Acting as an apparent proxy for the Norwood campaign, APN has cluttered e-mail inboxes with a piece insinuating that (Kasim) Reed, in his capacity as an attorney, once battled the NAACP on behalf of Cracker Barrel restaurants.

The ‘article,’ like much of APN’s output — including several attack pieces previously written about Lisa Borders — falls so far short of basic journalistic standards that it scarcely bears notice. Still, another local blogger who also works as an attorney was so offended by the lousy legal analysis she found in the APN piece that she felt compelled to post a point-by-point rebuttal.”

Let me go through and respond to his statements individually.

1. First of all, APN's article was not innuendo, it was factual. If anything, it's Henry's post (and previous posts he's written on other topics) that are characterized by innuendo. It is a fact that Reed, in his capacity as an attorney, once battled the NAACP on behalf of Cracker Barrel restaurants.

According to the federal database, PACER, Reed absolutely was an attorney, did represent Cracker Barrel, and on the other side was the NAACP, which both filed amicus briefs on behalf of a class of workers and helped organize this and a series of legal cases pursued against Cracker Barrel at the same time.

Now, some could argue that Cracker Barrel is entitled to a legal defense, or that Reed was just doing his job, etc., but that does not change the fact that he "in his capacity as an attorney, once battled the NAACP on behalf of Cracker Barrel." Henry's failure to back up his statement also means that his comment is the one that is innuendo, but it is also false.

[From Scott: I described the article as “innuendo” because, in referencing a 1999 case in which Reed was one of many attorneys working on behalf of Cracker Barrel, Cardinale points out that the restaurant chain “historically would neither serve Black customers nor employ homosexuals.” But the case in question had nothing to do with alleged civil rights violations; it was a worker’s comp case dealing with employee overtime.]

2. Atlanta Progressive News is a media outlet; it is an online news service and not a blog. First of all, Henry made no statements to substantiate his assertion that APN is a blog masquerading as a media outlet. Therefore, again, he is the one guilty of innuendo.

I founded APN in 2005, back when the only other online news service was Insider Advantage. Today APN is joined in Atlanta by new online news services like Project Q Atlanta and Jim Walls's Atlanta Unfiltered.

In just under four years, APN has produced 549 original, full-length news articles, ranging from a few hundred words to 3,000 words. They are all full of facts, not opinion, aside from a few clearly labeled as analysis or endorsements. All our articles go through an editing process as well, and I, as News Editor and Publisher, take full accountability for every factual statement that appears on our webpages.

I do know he called us "far-left," which frankly I see as a compliment. However, I think if we did a rigorous content analysis of Henry's blog posts we'd learn that he has a position too, "moderate or even waxing right-wing." A content analysis of his writings about the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless will show his position is one of salivating to close the shelter down.

Henry is constantly mixing facts and opinions in the same articles — as that appears to be part of Creative Loafing's editorial style. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, but it means his description of APN as a masquerade is really a projection of his own opinions towards himself.

And as I have said before, there is no such thing as objectivity: even trying to be balanced involves a journalistic construction based on value judgments of what are the sides to be balanced. Creative Loafing is an alternative newsweekly: that implies a perspective. Atlanta has Black papers, Hispanic papers, GLBT publications, etc. Even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a perspective as the newsletter of big business and developers.

[Me again: The lawmakers down at the Capitol will be shocked to learn that I’m "moderate or even waxing right-wing."]

3. Henry has a history of employing innuendo in his blog posts. For example, on Oct. 22, 2009, he wrote a post without ANY evidence insinuating that former State  Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas was being paid for her endorsement of Mary Norwood. There was absolutely no basis to making this claim at the time, yet Creative Loafing allowed it.

He may argue that weeks later it turned out Thomas was being paid $1,500 for get-out-the-vote work. However, at the time of his first post, there was no evidence, just defamation. In addition, there is no proof there was any connection between the expense reimbursement and the endorsement.

In fact, the endorsement happened first, according to Norwood, and the GOTV work was arranged later through the campaign manager second. Moreover, Henry did not take the time to apply the same question to Lisa Borders (who was paying State Rep. Stacey Abrams tens of thousands of dollars) nor to Kasim Reed (who was paying State Rep. Rashad Taylor thousands and thousands again through his consulting firm).

There is nothing other than Henry's personal biases towards Norwood that would lead him to suspect impropriety in one case, without any evidence, but not in another.

[From Scott: Here’s a point that warrants some attention. The Norwood camp has maintained that its paying Thomas is no different than Reed paying Taylor or Borders paying Abrams. This is false.

Taylor and Abrams were hired — quite openly — as salaried campaign workers. There was never a question about why they supported their candidates because everyone knew they were working for them.

Thomas, on the other hand, was the centerpiece of a splashy endorsement photo op with Norwood. Only later did documents emerge that showed she was on the campaign payroll. I maintain that it’s misleading to present Thomas’ endorsement as coming from a disinterested supporter.

And, yes, I most certainly speculated at the time that Thomas was secretly receiving compensation from Norwood, based largely on following “Able” Mable’s political career for the past 20 years.

We now have evidence I was right. As they say, the proof’s in the pudding.]

4. In closing, I would just like to say that Atlanta Progressive News is my pride and joy, and the result of years of hard work put in by me and several volunteers. We stepped up to provide Atlanta's working families with news they could not get anywhere else. That's what makes Henry's post — which comes across as elitist and bourgeois — so unfair to us.

In these times of Creative Loafing emerging from bankruptcy, Southern Voice ceasing to exist, and the AJC now a shadow of its former self, Atlanta's remaining media outlets should be lifting each other up, not tearing each other down. So, marinate on that.

Thank you very much for your time,

Matthew Cardinale

News Editor

The Atlanta Progressive News