ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” — Sir Winston Churchill

Contrary to popular belief in the era of Donald Trump and his war on the mainstream press, I take absolutely no pleasure in writing stories that aren’t true. On the contrary, I’m embarrassed and ashamed if I have passed along information that can lead to me being accused of presenting “fake news.”

I’d like to think I have professional pride and integrity.

Yet I have just learned that I’ve been writing something that’s not true for more than two years while covering the terribly contentious Leighton Township airstrip issue. Airstrip developer Clark Galloway, in his flyer distributed last weekend in response to opponents of his project asserted:

“Steve Deer is not a partner or an investor and has nothing to do with this proposed development. He is a neighbor, our Township Supervisor, a supporting friend, and you know he is a good man. The Opposition is falsely dragging Steve into their narrative as much as possible to make it appear the Township Board is in our pocket — which cannot be further from the truth. Ask your township representatives!”

I have been reporting routinely and often that Deer is a partner and investor in the airstrip project for more than two years because when this issue first surfaced, he announced very publicly that he would recuse himself from any deliberations as a result. He said he would not be part of the discussions or voting because of any appearance of conflict of interest.

Mr. Galloway’s flyer maintains it just isn’t so, that it’s not true.

He called me today to discuss this matter further and acknowledged that Supervisor Steve Deer was part of the original plans, which called for an airstrip with as many as 25 residences, but he stepped aside a long time ago when the project plans were pared back to four residences. He said Deer has some property on the fringe of the airstrip that may be used, but that is all.

This leads me to two troubling questions:

• Why was I allowed to report incorrectly for two years that Mr. Deer was a partner and investor in the development? Mr. Galloway explained that he is barely on the Internet and doesn’t read Townbroadcast. But what about Deer and the other members of the Township Board? Why didn’t they inform me of my transgression?

• If Mr. Deer was no longer associated with the project as an investor or partner, why did he continue to recuse himself from all deliberations? It may have been to avoid appearance of impropriety, but he should have made a very public announcement about his no longer having a role. His failure to do so allowed me and more than a few others to believe, however mistakenly, he was still involved. Negligence.

Last month I published a story about the Wayland City budget for fiscal year 2018-19 and used incorrect numbers. In less than 12 hours, City Manager Joshua Eggleston told me about the problem and I revised the story immediately afterward, acknowledging my error in an editor’s note.

Though I certainly was embarrassed by first presenting incorrect information, I appreciated the city manager courteously letting me know early enough to do some damage control.

No so Leighton Township. I had been routinely writing that Deer abstained from voting and didn’t take part in discussions because of conflict of interest. I did so to head off at the pass any public accusations of the supervisor exerting undue and unfair influence.

I know this sounds personal, but I feel betrayed. We so often are bombarded these with assertions that the media is biased and can’t be trusted, so I do not take kindly to any notion that I’ve been spreading fake news, however innocently.

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ — that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” — John Keats

So I have to plead ignorance on this matter, just like then-Vice President George Herbert Walter Bush did with the Iran-Contra Affair in the 1980s — “I was out of the loop.” According to the dictionary, “out of the loop” is defined as not told or let in on some information or not included in some news or event.

It really doesn’t make any journalist feel good to admit he or she just didn’t know. I could’ve used a little help from the public officials involved.