Cops vs. T&G … continued

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting and reportedly at Thursday’s Citywide Crime Watch meeting at the police station, City Manager Michael O’Brien noted that the T&G failed to report on two incidents last weekend – a double stabbing and the discharging of a firearm – that he deemed newsworthy. According to Thursday’s story in the T&G about the Crime Watch meeting, the paper had requested the info on Sunday morning and didn’t receive it until Wednesday. The T&G story noted: “The chief told the resident that [information officer Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst] said the information on the incidents was released.” Sort of a vague response; no timeline given on when the information was released … or to whom. All we know is Hazelhurst e-mailed information about the incidents in two separate e-mails to Worcester Mag, WCRN, WTAG (to three different addresses), Charter and NECN Sunday night, with the Telegram conspicuously not copied on either. Shortly afterward, the WPD released its “revised media policy” that was critical of the T&G’s coverage of the police department and announced its intent to get information in a “timelier manner” to radio and TV stations. The T&G wasn’t copied on that one either.

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