I SPENT TEN HOURS on a beautiful Saturday a couple of weeks ago listening to and transcribing the meeting called by the attorney general’s office to report their investigative findings in the Tom Brown case. The finished transcript is 10,540 words long.

That is not the only recording I transcribed over the last few days, though it is by far the longest and most difficult, involving several different speakers—sometimes talking at the same time.

By my quick count, it would require six full pages of The Canadian Record to publish the full, unedited, transcript, minus any formatting or artwork—and free of any advertising to help pay for the cost of publication.

This message is for Penny Meek and her friends and fellow Moms4Tom members, and for Philip Klein Investigations, the private firm hired to investigate her son, Thomas Brown’s, death.

Because they have questioned both the integrity of our reporting and our professional ethics, I am inviting Penny Meek to send a signed request to The Record, requesting publication of the complete transcript of the meeting with the AG’s office which they attended on Aug. 21. The request should be accompanied by her phone number for confirmation purposes, as we require of all letters to the editor.

Should she choose to make that request, we will comply, and will seek no compensation for what we consider to be a public service.

In response to the obvious next question: No, I will not reveal the source of the recording I received and transcribed, nor will I publish the recording of that meeting. I believe journalists should be as transparent as possible, and should, as a rule, name the sources they rely on for information.

I also believe there are rare circumstances in which the public’s need to know is greater than the need for transparency. This is one.

As we stated last week, “In an age of lies, the truth deserves to be told, and it is long past time—in this tragic chapter of Canadian’s life—that it has a chance to be heard.”

After nearly 28 years behind the editor’s desk, I am reasonably certain that most members of the community we serve are confident in our reporting, and rely on the integrity we bring to that job. It is a trust we will not violate.

The Record’s only agenda is to report the truth. We believe we have done so.

WE ALSO EXPRESS our deepest appreciation to KXDJ’s Chris Samples, who responded to a recent social media post by Philip Klein that was critical of last week’s Record report, detailing the AG’s recent closed door meeting. Klein also condemned Samples for his decision to read the entire report live on his morning show last Thursday.

Samples issued a blistering rebuke to Klein’s self-righteous indignation—one well-worth hearing. It is published online, along with the text of Klein’s post. You may read, and listen, at http://highplainsobserverperryton.com/kxdjs-chris-samplesresponds-to-kleins-social-media-post-p26267-267.htm