To the Editor:

There goes John Voket putting his own sensational spin on a Board of Education story and misquoting his source once again! It’s interesting that I don’t have this issue with Eliza [Hallabeck] of The Bee or reporters from the Danbury News-Times or Hoa [Nguyen] of The Patch. John’s article for the 8/26 issue of The Bee, which now appears online, has inaccuracies. Its title, “School Business Manager Believes Owner-Operators Bid Must Be Dismissed,” is not true. The information contained in this article is taken out of context and much of it is not what I said when interviewed regarding the status of the transportation bid.

Perhaps this equates to the Russian term “dezinformatsiya,” which translated means disinformation. As taken from Wikipedia, disinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately with intentions of turning genuine information useless. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth. Disinformation is designed to engage emotional support and manipulate an audience by either discrediting conflicting information or supporting false conclusions. A common disinformation tactic is to mix some truth and observation with false conclusions and lies. (Disinformation should not be confused with misinformation, information that is unintentionally false.) That considered, what is John’s agenda when it comes to the Board of Education?

Ron Bienkowski

Director of Business

Newtown Public Schools

3 Primrose Street, Newtown                                       August 23, 2011

(Editor’s Note: The story referenced by Mr Bienkowski in this letter appears online only at NewtownBee.com and not in this week’s edition of The Bee, which includes more current story on the issue. The Bee stands by all of its reporting on the bus transportation contract, including the story cited in this letter.)