Our front-page coverage of this week’s municipal elections incorrectly reported county-wide voter numbers, the voter tallies of elections in Gretna and Havana, and incorrectly named Jeff McNealy the loser in the Gretna City Commission Seat 3 election.
As a result, I have indefinitely suspended Herald editor Randall Lieberman without pay. I also called Mr. McNealy and apologized for our error.
You have a right to expect that everything reported in The Herald is truthful and accurate. Any factual error is unacceptable. An error of this magnitude on an issue of this importance published on our front page may cause irreparable damage to our reputation and severely damage the trust we’ve worked hard to establish with you, our readers.
The numbers we reported in the Gretna and Havana elections were the mail-in vote counts. Lieberman said he was unaware that he had incorrectly used preliminary results when he sent The Herald to the press. As editor, his highest responsibility is to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of everything we publish. In this case he failed.
We will publish a correction on the front page of the next issue of The Herald. The correct vote counts and results are posted here.
We will take steps to ensure this type of error does not occur again. We value your trust and will strive to ensure we continue to earn our place as your source of local community news.
Mark Pettus
Publisher
mark.pettus@prioritynews.net