Sharifah Hardie Responds to Long Beach Post and Business Journal CEO Melissa Evans’ Email Regarding Mayor Rex Richardson
The full email is below.
Sunday morning, Long Beach Post and Business Journal CEO Melissa Evans’ released an email to subscribers with the title, “This is what journalism looks like.”
The beginning of the email starts off with, “Long Beach Business Journal” and continues with:
“Politicians love trotting out new initiatives and posing at press conferences, and we cover them when it’s newsworthy.
But journalism is more than that. It must follow and fact-check the results of those initiatives, and it must seek voices of people who live with the consequences of bureaucratic decisions.
An example of that was a story this week by Long Beach Business Journal reporter Brandon Richardson about the months that followed a press conference where the mayor announced the arrival of unleaded fuel for the smaller aircraft that have been flying over East Long Beach with greater frequency.”
Dear Long Beach Black News Reader,
In just the first few paragraphs of this email Long Beach Post & Business Journal CEO Melissa Evans clearly shows she does not have absolutely any idea what good journalism truly is.
*Good journalism is reporting on a story without any bias.
*Good journalism is observing what happened and allowing the reader to draw their own conclusion.
*Good journalism is stating the facts and nothing, but the facts so help you God. NOT your interpretation of the facts.
Evans credits Long Beach Business Journal reporter Brandon Richardson, but simply refers to Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson as “the mayor.” Is the mayor of Long Beach not worthy of having his name mentioned? This behavior and these micro-aggressions are typical of people in power, and often go unrecognized and unchallenged.
Melissa Evans should be removed from her position. She should be canceled. In this email she has shown a complete lack of respect for Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. Whether she likes him or not, should not be discerned in a professional email that goes out to Long Beach Residents.
To reference the mayor as “trotting” as if he’s an animal and “posing” as opposed to standing up as a strong, intelligent, proud Black man is completely, disrespectful, unprofessional and it shows a complete disregard for the office.
Behavior such as Evans unfairly taints the views of future voters and undermines the mayor’s ability to make progress within the city. For someone of Evans’ caliber to utilize her power, position and influence in such a way is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.
It is clear that Mayor Richardson is doing his research and working on resolving these issues. The expectation that he can solve the entirety of Long Beach’s problems in less than a year and a half is unrealistic, impossible and shows a lack of compassion and understanding of Long Beach’s issues on Evans’ part.
I believe that the Long Beach Post and Business Journal has continued to go down ever since they let Andrea and her team go, and switched to a non-profit, subscription based model begging for $8 annual subscriptions. Instead of actually operating a business and servicing the people of Long Beach. Readers want to know what is actually going on in Long Beach and not biased, commentary.
I would love to see an email that speaks to the hope for Long Beach, the future of Long Beach and how we can all work together to make Long Beach THEE city the rest of the world dreams of becoming!
Sincerely,
Sharifah Hardie
https://www.LongBeachBlackNews.com
https://www.SharifahHardieForSenate.com
Email Reposted From Long Beach Post and Business Journal As Is. Read the Full Email Below:
“Politicians love trotting out new initiatives and posing at press conferences, and we cover them when it’s newsworthy.
But journalism is more than that. It must follow and fact-check the results of those initiatives, and it must seek voices of people who live with the consequences of bureaucratic decisions.”
An example of that was a story this week by Long Beach Business Journal reporter Brandon Richardson about the months that followed a press conference where the mayor announced the arrival of unleaded fuel for the smaller aircraft that have been flying over East Long Beach with greater frequency.
It sounded like a great program; lead is known to cause severe health effects. The problem is, no one has been buying the unleaded gas because it’s far more expensive.
“They want to show that they’re trying to do something,” Lori Shepler, a mother who lives near Long Beach Airport, told Richardson: “But unfortunately it’s not working.”
Richardson spent weeks gathering data on fuel sales and emissions, and asking those responsible why this is happening. He of course sought to interview a resident who is impacted by all this, Shepler, whose daughter is a kidney cancer survivor.
Without this kind of journalism, facts go unchecked. No one is forced to answer questions. And voices like Shepler’s are not heard.
We need your financial support to keep doing this work.
We are grateful for your readership, but we need you to join our membership program so that we can continue to invest in accountability journalism.
Join now
The cost starts at just $8 per month for an annual membership.
All of us at the Post and Business Journal love Long Beach, and that’s why we ask tough questions of the city’s leaders. I hope you’ll join us.
Sincerely,
Melissa Evans, CEO
