OPINION: Media members need to act responsibly with news tips

Sheriff Julian Wiser brought up an issue at this week’s Madison County Commission meeting that needed dealt with, and he dealt with it because he, many in his department and many on the Commission were getting calls and texts.

Later on Monday morning, Jackson Mayor Scott Conger addressed the same issue as well.

The issue at hand: The notion of bus loads of illegal immigrants coming from the Southern border and being dropped off by the busloads at the old K-Mart building on Old Hickory Boulevard.

Both Wiser and Conger said the issue has been investigated by at least two law enforcement agencies – the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and the Jackson Police Department.

According to Wiser, his deputies looked into the situation, talked with various people who work at neighboring establishments and even went to places where people said they saw these bus loads of people being let out and heading north on the Highway 45 Bypass toward Humboldt and Tyson Chicken.

They had no witnesses. No one who said they saw anything that looked remotely like this situation that was being discussed.

Then once both Conger and Wiser shot down the rumor of the busloads of immigrants in Jackson, they each addressed one side of the issue at hand here locally.

Conger spoke to the people and the apparent disdain some people in Jackson have toward illegal immigrants. That disdain is borne out of something logical and reasonable, and that’s the fact that we don’t like the idea of people entering our country illegally, taking jobs that Americans need at cheaper wages that are untaxed and causing a bump in unemployment. The reality is that people entering our country – legally and probably otherwise – are mostly taking jobs Americans don’t want to do like working in chicken processing plants and replacing roofs on houses.

Conger said we’re approaching the annual Jackson International Food and Arts Festival when Jackson celebrates its diversity, and the rumors spreading are based on the beliefs of people who fear diversity.

Wiser addressed the source of the rumors.

Apparently someone anonymously texted one of our local radio talk show hosts and said busloads of illegal immigrants were being unloaded at the location and they’re leaving there and moving north on the bypass.

The talk radio host – whom Wiser did not name in the county commission meeting – read the text on air with no vetting whatsoever of the text.

This is annoying. Because for a few months, I hosted a radio show earlier this year, and I’ve hosted sports talk shows in years past. For years I’ve been a regular guest on a number of local shows.

Taking texts during a show is a thing that started probably about 15 years ago when texting became easier, and I can tell you, unless you’re having a day when you don’t get that many texts, none of those hosts have ever read every single text they get over the course of a show – for various reasons. The main one being time constraints. Others prefer to stay on topic. Some texters are unable to send a text without profanity.

The more responsible ones don’t read texts that would be irresponsible to read on the air.

I challenged one who loved to talk about how he read “every text” to his show one day when he read one that criticized me but then didn’t read one that got personal about him. I challenged him off air during the break of why he wouldn’t read that one but he’d read the one about me a week or two before. He accused me of being thin-skinned, but I’m still waiting for him to read the one on the air about himself.

So this host decided to read this text letting all his listeners know that – if they’re to believe everything they hear from a talk radio texter – a bus load of illegal immigrants had just been dropped off in Jackson and they could be seen walking up the bypass toward Humboldt.

First off – to anyone who believes they’ve seen this, I’ll give you a full 24 hours as the top story on our website and the top billing on Page 1A in print when you supply me with irrefutable evidence that this happened. And yes, on the website, the video of these immigrants being dropped off with be shown along with proof that they’re illegal.

To the radio hosts – and really everyone in media around here – each of us are blessed because on some level we have the trust of a segment of the local population. Whether they’re watching us, listening to us or reading what we write, people trust us to bring them information and/or entertain them.

But even if the purpose of entertainment, then it needs to be labeled as such. Because some of our local people like to spout off at the mouth like they’re an authority on a certain topic and then when they get called out they’re like, “Now wait a minute, I’m just here for entertainment purposes.”

Either way, everyone in our local media – starting with me – need to make sure we handle our roles in this area with care.

If I get a text saying “Hey, you need to write about these illegal immigrants at K-Mart” then I’m driving to K-Mart to see what’s going on before I open my laptop to write the first word. And even if I do see something, I’m finding out what authority figure there is to talk to for comments about what this is, who these people are, what are the plans and what the public can expect.

But some of our media brethren want to just run with anything they get because they think it’ll get them listeners.

If you need to shock people to get listeners, you’re probably not as good of an on-air personality as you think you are and you should probably rethink your life choices. Or at least rethink your strategy for your show.

Because that kind of behavior is irresponsible and the people of Jackson who trust you for your information deserve better than that.

Brandon Shields is the managing editor of The Jackson Post. Contact him at brandon@jacksonpost.news. Follow him on X.com @JSEditorBrandon or Instagram @Editorbrandon.