Late Wednesday, the Anniston Star ran a story calling into question Rep. Mike Rogers’ campaign’s use of the Jacksonville State University logo on a T-shirt promoting Rogers’ candidacy.
According to the report from the Star’s Patrick McCreless, Rogers’ campaign did not have permission to use the university’s logo and he cited Jacksonville State University spokeswoman Buffy Lockette, also the wife of the Star’s capitol and statewide reporter Tim Lockette, who told the Star the logo “was not approved by our licensing director.”
However, the use of that logo was not a result of improper actions by the Rogers’ campaign. The campaign followed the proper protocol according to Don Killingsworth, a special assistant to Jacksonville State University’s president who handles government relations.
As the Star later pointed out after publication in an update to the story, the Rogers’ campaign was not at fault for the use of the JSU logo. Instead, it was the Anniston-based vendor Opportunity Center, which holds a valid retail license to sell products with the logo reflected by Killingsworth’s comments included in the update.
“The Mike Rogers for Congress Campaign has and continues to follow all rules and policies and has no fault or responsibility in the manner,” Killingsworth said in a statement.
The Star, which has a decades-long history of supporting Democratic Party candidates and liberal causes, immediately drew the ire of the Rogers campaign for the initial version of the story suggesting it was the campaign that acted improperly.
BREAKING: #FakeNews Alert: @AnnistonStar is nothing more than a political arm of the Democratic Party. #AL03 #MikeRogersforCongress https://t.co/PlwVeeyjth pic.twitter.com/zzwoNdNXdN
— Mike Rogers Campaign (@MikeRogersCamp) September 20, 2018
In a statement provided to Yellowhammer News on Thursday, the campaign reiterated the sentiment in the tweet.
“Once again, the Anniston Star put its left-wing liberal views ahead of the facts by racing to run a political hit piece on the Mike Rogers campaign before having the full story,” the statement said. “It’s no wonder so many folks don’t trust the mainstream media.”
Despite the initial oversight in the Star’s initial publication, Star editors Ben Cunningham and Phillip Tutor have taken to social media to question why the Rogers’ campaign might take issue with McCreless’ initial story.
Our story is accurate. Unless the Rogers campaign means with this tweet that Jacksonville State did authorize the use of its trademarks on a campaign T-shirt? https://t.co/M5v5pWzKCN https://t.co/C7cCnasJkp
— Ben Cunningham (@Cunningham_Star) September 20, 2018
So, @RepMikeRogersAL is a @JSUNews grad. And JSU says these T-shirts shouldn’t have the JSU logo on them. And the shirt maker agrees. And Rogers’ team says this is fake news? https://t.co/4GA6y1Ofk3
— Phillip Tutor (@ThePhillipTutor) September 20, 2018
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.
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