Since today the Oklahoma Political News Service celebrates its 1,000th post, I decided it was time to write a brief history of how this site came to be; how I became its founder and editor, and reinstate our philosophy one more time for those of you who may be new readers. I first learned of this website in May of last year when I saw it for sale on Craigslist.org. The seller was an Oklahoma political consultant who purchased the name (URL) but never did anything with it due to time limitations with his regular work. After agreeing on a price, I bought it and on Memorial Day 2006, I published the first story and began making it accessible to anyone interested in Oklahoma politics. The rest as they say is history! Regular OKPNS readers know we report the news with a particular slant – just like the mainstream Oklahoma press. We make no apologies for it because frankly, we tell you upfront - unlike other media outlets whose arguments of objectivity strain credulity. As our readers - and certain party chairmen know - we always offer those who feel offended ample space for rebuttal. Our experience has shown us that some in the public eye have way too thin skins for the positions they hold and/or aspire to. Much of what we do is parody along with the news and commentary. Relax everybody! No harm no foul. Yes, we do solicit tips and inside information from our readers for stories to post on our website, but that information is vetted and is weighed for its credibility. As we've mentioned numerous times to a nameless critic at a competing website with an unhealthy Simian fetish; please point out to us one post that OKPNS has posted that is untrue. As of the writing of this post; we are still waiting. At the bottom of our website, there is a disclaimer that declares the following: Content disclaimer: Oklahoma Political News Service content posted by users does not represent the opinion of Oklahoma Political News Service. OKPNS makes no representations as to the accuracy or validity of this third-party content and is not liable in any way for the use of or reliance upon such content. Whenever possible, such information is marked with the name of the source. No content herein has been authorized by any candidate or political party. Third party content also includes videos. The Oklahoma Political News Service has never produced a video(s) or authorized a video(s) to be made on its behalf. Like other information we post, we obtain videos from public websites such as youtube.com and others. Washington D.C's respected Roll Call Newspaper called us a "new Web log for political junkies in Oklahoma" at our founding. We hope we have lived up to that billing. We will always continue to strive to be informative, provocative, and most important, accurate. Christopher R. Arps Editor/Founder

Labels: OKPNS

Posted at 3/29/2007 07:24:00 PM