Oklahoma Watch Requests – And Receives – Anonymous Tip Information To Write Story In Favor Of Edmond Teacher Regan Killacky

Once the concept of anonymous isn’t anymore, trust is gone and transparency is dead.

Look, I read the Oklahoma Watch. Sometimes they’re the only online media source from which I can get any kind of real information about our Republican elected officials. But there you go. I’ve personally found their stories to be biased to the left – which, as I said, works for me sometimes because their interest in taking out Republicans at least results in some kind of transparency for one side of the isle.

But right, or left, NO media source should request information that is meant to be anonymous and Oklahoma Watch did.

September 13th, reporter Jennifer Palmer posted a story to the online paper entitled, “State Seeks to Decertify Teacher Over 5-Year-Old Instagram Family Photo“. Palmer contends that Edmond Public School teacher Regan Killacky – who took a picture of himself and his son threatening a Donald Trump mask with plastic swords during an outing to a Halloween store in 2019 – should not be fired for the post.

Here is a legitimate sentence from Palmer’s piece: “But in Killackey’s case, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters prioritized punishing a teacher over political speech he disagreed with in order to score political points”. Is anyone going to try and argue that this statement is somehow objective ‘journalism’? That it ISN’T completely biased? I hope not. You simply can’t make that argument. You’d look like a dope.

At any rate, Palmer’s desire to “get the story” and apparently prop up Killacky, resulted in her open records requesting (ORR) from the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) information on who filed the (supposedly) anonymous tip about Killacky’s Instagram post to the state’s AWARITY reporting system.

Now, granted, there’s PLENTY of blame to go around here. Yes, Palmer requested information that was supposed to be anonymous, but the OSDE GAVE IT TO HER. What the absolute HECK? What would be the purpose of something so reckless?

Watch the short video below to get the full story, but suffice it to say, either tips are anonymous or they’re not. If they’re not anonymous and the public is told they’re anonymous, even the most ardent Walters supporters will lose faith in the system after getting doxed the first time by Oklahoma’s poor excuse for objective journalists.

Oklahoma Watch (Jennifer Palmer) AND OSDE – both of you had better do better ASAP.