Adult Supervision Required

In the previous post, (written on Friday) I wrote about the Tribune running a story that was written by Joe DeMenna for a class he's taking at ASU. The story detailed the positive economic impacts of the proposed Rock n’ Roll theme park. Unfortunately, the Tribune editor didn’t realize that Joe DeMenna’s father, Kevin DeMenna, is one of the lobbyists working on the project.

The Tribune has completely freaked out over the incident.  Click here to read what the Tribune wrote by way of retraction.

I was most intrigued by this portion of retraction. (Since Joe DeMenna is still in school, the Tribune editors seem to be surprised that he hasn't taken the class on full disclosure.)

The story cited a study by Elliot D. Pollack that projected the economic impact of Decades Music Theme Park, but the story failed to disclose that the study was funded by the park’s investors.

The story also should have disclosed that Jason Rose of Rose and Allyn Public Relations is listed on the park’s Web site as a collaborator, consultant or landowner affiliated with the project.

But is that really the Tribune's policy?  Does the Tribune think that the affiliations of the "experts" that it interviews need to be disclosed to the readers?  Is that an new policy?  If so, the management needs take a break from slamming students and get veteran Tribune reporters to follow the policy.

By way of example, check out this story by veteran Tribune reporter Paul Giblin.

The point of the story is that the Employer Sanctions law will hurt the economy.  Giblin didn't write the headline "Experts predict employer sanctions law will hurt AZ."  The headline was written by some hapless Tribune employee who read the story and assumed that Giblin had interviewed "experts" instead of "parties to the lawsuit."

Here's one of Giblin's experts.

There’s widespread misunderstanding among business operators over the new law, said labor attorney Julie A. Pace, who has lectured at more than 50 seminars about the topic since July.

Labor attorney?  That may be true, but Julie Pace is the attorney who is bringing the suit against the sanctions law. 

Pace is a frequent critic of the law, but she is usually properly identified.  Here's an example. 

“People are very frustrated in Arizona and this country that Congress has not acted,” says Julie Pace, a Phoenix attorney who represents business groups and others in the lawsuit filed in July,

Here's another one of Giblin's experts.

The law is certain to cause the entire state’s economy to slow, said Ann Seiden, spokeswoman for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

That seems like a good choice.  After all, the Chamber should know when a new law will have a detrimental effect on the state's economy.  Of course, Giblin failed to disclose that the Chamber is a PARTY to the lawsuit and has HIRED Julie Pace to fight the sanctions law.

How about this one:

“We already were having problems getting workers,” said Joe Sigg, director of government relations for the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation, a nonprofit association of 3,000 agriculture-related businesses.

What's this about "a nonprofit association of 3,000 agriculture-related businesses."?  Sure, that's true, but Giblin seems to go out of his way to hide the fact that the Farm Bureau is also a PARTY to the suit and has HIRED Julie Pace to overturn the law. 

It's OK to quote Joe Sigg as long as he is properly identified.  Here's an example in which (ironically), an ASU student gets it right.

Farmers who rely on Mexican workers entering the country legally to provide seasonal help worry that additional background checks at the border will cause many of those workers to stay home, said Joe Sigg, director of government relations for the Arizona Farm Bureau.

The Arizona Farm Bureau, a non-governmental organization of farmers, is among the groups suing in federal court to block the law.

That's the way it's supposed to be done.

Joe Sigg often debates the immigration issue and he knows he's not an independent observer.  Here's how he described himself at an immigration debate. 

In the interest of full disclosure I am a lobbyist. I am still afraid to break the news to my mother, but I am. I have an agenda. I am not objective – no one is. But I try to be fair.

Too bad that Giblin didn't have the same interest in "full disclosure." 

So veteran Tribune reporter Paul Giblin's three "experts" turn out to be the spokespersons for two businesses that are suing to block the law and their attorney--none of which is disclosed.

I wonder if the MSNBC or the wire services that ran Giblin's story nationally ever realized what happend?'

Speaking of full disclosure did you notice how the retraction story starts?

A story on eastvalleytribune.com about a proposed music theme park in Eloy failed to disclose that the writer who submitted the story is the son of a key lobbyist for the project.

That sentence implies that the story only appeared on website, not in print.  Indeed, the story did not appear in the subscription edition, but it was in Friday's non-subscription print edition.

But what about the fact that Joe DeMenna wrote a story about his dad's project?  Isn't that an ethical violation?  Well sure, but let me make an important point. 

The fact that this story made it into print is the Tribune’s mistake, not Joe DeMenna’s mistake. The Tribune needs to treat it as a wake up call and not drop a ton of bricks on Joe DeMenna. Newspapers are facing tough times and they are increasingly cutting costs by laying off seasoned reporters and replacing them with students. That’s fine with me--I'm an accountant. 

But the newspapers need to understand that students will make mistakes that seasoned reporters avoid. If you give a student an open-ended assignment, he will inevitably write a story about where his family likes to go on vacation, what his dad does at work or what his roommate thinks about Barak Obama. 

Those are classic student mistakes. Eventually, students learn that it’s not OK to write stories about your parents, or interview your friends about politics, but that comes later. If the Tribune is going to let students or interns write the paper, then the Trib better have an editor around who knows what’s going on.  Newspapers need to provide adult supervision in order to avoid these mistakes.   

Everyone in the political community knows Kevin DeMenna. Rudimentary fact checking would have brought up plenty of articles about the elder DeMenna’s relationship with the project. At that point, the editor should have gone to Joe DeMenna and said. “Dude, that’s great writing, but we can’t print a story about your dad.” Any other reaction by the Tribune is an overreaction.

Comments

[Special Agent Johnny Utah]

It IS astounding; as soon as I saw the name "DeMenna," I thought, "I wonder if he's related..." But that doesn't occur to anyone at the EVT?

[Ann]

I had no idea DeMenna was such a common name that it would not be an immediate clue to ask about familial relevancy.

Hey, give the kid credit...this wasn't for a paying job but a college class. His dad is a PR guy, looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[Happy]

Greg, I agree with you. As an ASU journalism student myself, I can tell you that journalism ethics is not the first class students take...No, it's more like the last class...a dull 400-level lecture class. Joe was probably trying to meet his quota of published stories so that he could pass this semester and with his jam-packed schedule, he thought he'd just write about something easy. I mean, we've all done it ("we" meaning "we students"). It's a shame that the Trib let this one escape their notice. I've always considered them a notch above the Republic, but it's clear that editors need to take a closer look at the stories, and not just the ones from students. What a sad state of affairs...

[Richard]

This won't be the last time you will be writing about issues like this as student journalists take over the Trib and Republic.

[George]

What happened to the gay people don't make as much study post that was up?

[amesselek]

"Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich."
-- "Ali Baba Bunny" <>957, Chuck Jones]

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