Pastor James Amos / Granite City Economic Development DirectorArchived Message
Posted by AdminGCG1 on July 5, 2016, 6:30 pm
It has been brought to our attention that the following passage was recently posted via social media regarding our website by Pastor Amos:
"I've heard a few times about a website called Granite City Gossip. I've never been on it before (since the Bible says to avoid gossip). Sounds unwise, to me. I've heard many times of lies about people floating around on there.
Someone told me today there is a discussion on there currently about how I've abused my "power" as our economic developer to get a location for our church in the old Aldi's building.
Among other problems with this little piece of gossip, is the fact that the church which purchased the Aldi's building is not the church I'm a pastor of. Our names just sound kinda similar.
I'm absolutely shocked to learn that "Granite City Gossip" has yet to employ a fact-checker, aren't you?
And here will end my comments about this little piece of non-reality. Have a nice week."
We are genuinely disappointed about this comment being made public on social media. We have devoted the last ten years of our lives to generating the GraniteCityGossip.com website whose sole purpose is to highlight and showcase all things positive about our wonderful city. The city where we were born and raised our entire lives. Our roots run deep in this town. That is why we have been so committed to our charitable endeavors and done so with no fanfare or need for praise. The many citizens who truly know what we are about have witnessed and participated in these endeavors right along side of us. They too need no fanfare or pats on the back.
We have sponsored our Discussion Board from day one, with the belief that the residents of our town deserve a voice and an opportunity to debate and discuss any subject of their choosing without interference, as long as there is no profanity or vulgarity.
With that being said, we do not employ a "fact checker" as the pastor has suggested, because the posts in our Discussion Board are not our words or opinions, therefore it would be impossible to do so. Anyone involved in any type of social media would surely have the good sense to understand that. Our Discussion Board may not be a "wide spread social media", but it certainly is a local one, and one that has been very successful during the last decade.
We sincerely apologize if the pastor is upset by a comment someone may have posted. If the information posted is inaccurate, we wholeheartedly invite him to address it within the Discussion Board or to contact us directly so we might assist in clarifying information. Unfortunately he went a different route.
The name GraniteCityGossip is nothing more than a play on words, and anyone who has visited it can surely attest that we are so much more than the Discussion Board forum we provide, or a "gossip site". That is why we are deeply saddened that not only a local pastor, but someone employed by the mayor at City Hall would attempt to discredit us to his spiritual congregation and all the residents of Granite City.
And honestly, isn't the narrative we've quoted at the beginning of this post gossip in it's own right? Surely the pastor has us confused with another website (that we will not name here) and is not attempting to slander our name, misrepresent the nature of our website, alienate our visitors and sponsors or challenging our credibility.
on July 5, 2016, 6:30 pm