Wonder why the Argus Leader has been quiet after breaking the Hildebrand Tewes embezzlement scandal? Randell Beck breaks the silence and tells us why.

Case in point: Last month, we first reported on our Web site that an employee of a Sioux Falls firm, Hildebrand Tewes Consulting Inc., had been fired after more than $100,000 turned up missing at the company. The story also appeared in the next day’s print edition.

While we knew the identity of the employee in question, we didn’t name him because no charges of any kind have been filed. That’s been our standard for a long time, and it still is.

Not so long ago, I might have received a call from a curious reader or two inquiring why we didn’t name so and so. I would explain our standards, and that, largely, would be the end of it.

For the 95 percent of our readers who don’t know Steve Hildebrand - or don’t care who might have ripped him off - our report was adequate. But because of Hildebrand’s political ties to nationally known Democrats, including former Sen. Tom Daschle, the brouhaha instantly became big news for about a dozen people or so on the Web.

Well there you go, I am sure all “dozen or so” of us that have been wondering why the Argus has ignored the story since they broke it now understand. The Argus has standards and thanks to Mr. Beck we now know what they are:

1. Be very nice to some especially if you are friendly with them or they used to work with you by claiming an adherence to journalistic standards.
2. Propagate rumors about others without charges ever being filed by conveniently forgetting about those journalistic standards.

Sound about right Randell?

Beck closes by throwing another dig at the “dozen or so” in South Dakota blogosphere that have been less than kind to the Argus on this issue.

The true believers out on the blogosphere - that strange world in cyberspace where the political and social fringes thrust and parry - can make life miserable for an everyday media elitist like me. Few rules and no standards apply.

Beck makes me feel like I should be in some strange X-File’s episode, attack of the killer bloggers or something. But what he doesn’t mention is that while most bloggers wear their political allegiances on their sleeves for all to see, a minute a so on this blog tells you exactly where I stand, the bias within the Argus isn’t as obvious but exists just the same.