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PIIN Releases Statement on recent reporting of the Pittsburgh Public School Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet, the district administration, and the Board of Directors

On Tuesday, May 29, 2019 at 11:00 am, the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN) and allies will held a news conference at the Pittsburgh Board of Education, 341 S. Bellefield St. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 to address concerns over the recent reporting of the Pittsburgh Public School Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet, the district administration, and the Board of Directors. Over the past couple of weeks there has been intense scrutiny over decisions made by Pittsburgh Public School Board and actions taken by Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet by certain media outlets. The information reported, according to district administration has been short on fact, full of innuendo, and hyperbole. Almost three years ago, PIIN stood against a wave of unfounded attacks on Dr. Hamlet and the Board shortly after the decision to hire him and now we find ourselves in the same position today. Ethical journalism should be based on fact, not opinion and conjecture.

Our country has had to deal with the allegations of “fake news” for the past 3 years, allegations against media outlets that have tried to present truth to the American people yet spun as biased reporting by political pundits unnerved by truth. Television and print media recorded former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani saying, “Truth isn’t truth.” Cambridge Analytica former CEO Alexander Nix was reported to have said, in the wake of the Facebook scandal after the 2016 Presidential elections, “It doesn’t have to be true, it just has to believed.”

PIIN and its allies are concerned that the recent spin of information is maliciously intended to plant negative perceptions of Dr. Hamlet, the administration and the elected board, in way that aligns with Nix’s misuse of information. It could also be argued that these recent actions by KDKA are racially motivated much like the case of the unfounded investigative reporting of Dr. Hamlet upon his hiring. PIIN has always and will always stand upon the principles of justice, truth and fairness and will not allow for baseless attacks as has been witnessed these past couple of weeks to go unchallenged.