Determination
132
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of Michael Walijarvi
v. WCCO-TV
Background
On May 1, 2001, WCCO aired an I-Team report on mold in school walls,
and the expense of cleaning them up to avoid health hazards. The story
focused on several outstate schools, most of which happened to have
been designed many years ago by an architect named Ken Walijarvi,
who died some time ago, and showed his picture three times. His son,
Michael, who lives in Maine, got a copy of the story and objected
to the station, saying it had no need to single out his father, portraying
him as some kind of wrongdoer, especially since the story itself stated
that the design Walijarvi used was considered the state of the art
at that time.
Complaint
WCCO-TV was unfair in its story about mold in school walls by singling
out Ken Walijarvi, the architect of several of the schools highlighted,
and portraying him as a wrongdoer, especially since the story itself
stated that the design Walijarvi used was considered the state of
the art at the time.
Response
WCCO’s former news director, Ted Canova responded to the complaint
in a letter, stating that the station stood by the accuracy and fairness
of the reporting. The letter said, "We clearly stated that the
building design which your father used and which experts now say is
to blame for the mold was a ‘commonly used’ design in those
days. We said . . . your father was ‘an architect with a good
reputation’ and that while ‘many of his buildings were fine,
others are rotting and hazardous.’
"We never said or implied . . . that your father,
or anyone else for that matter, had reason to know at the time that
the design was flawed. However, to report on the issue, to tell taxpayers
that it could cost them millions of dollars to fix, and not tell them
when the problem started and why would be a disservice."
Discussion
Charles Claude, an old friend of Ken Walijarvi represented Michael
Walijarvi at the hearing. WCCO chose not to participate in the hearing.
News Director Maria Reitan told the News
Council staff that she prefers to handle complaints
in private. Claude said he watched the story because the station’s
promotional announcements for it, which did not name or picture the
architect, convinced him WCCO had a major exposé.Several News
Council members said WCCO appeared to have been looking for a villain
to humanize and sensationalize the story, and that the choice of a
deceased person who could not sue for slander appeared to be convenient.
Vineeta Sawkar, a KSTP-TV reporter and anchor, said
she has covered many school mold stories and she saw no need to name
a single architect in a story intended to alert the public to a widespread
problem.
"Context is what’s missing," said Vicki
Gowler, executive editor of the Pioneer Press. "Discovery that
the same architect had designed several affected schools drove the
coverage. Regardless of whether the person named was alive or dead,
what they (WCCO) owed us was better context."
"What they could have done," said Sawkar,
"was to have talked to someone from that era who designed buildings
that way." That would have softened the focus on Walijarvi and
helped the audience understand the design decisions better, she said.
Council member Patricia Berg, a journalism teacher
at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, called the letter’s
reference to Walijarvi’s "good reputation" disingenuous
and out of context. She said the way WCCO referred to his "good
reputation" in the broadcast was actually "a foreshadowing
of doom," and not an attempt to provide balance.
The News Council also voted to communicate to WCCO-TV
that its presence at the hearing was needed and that it would have
benefited the station and all professional journalists to have the
station answer questions about its reporting.
After the hearing The Pioneer Press’s Gowler
said, "WCCO’s absence prevented us from knowing exactly
what their reporting showed and why they decided to single out one
architect.
"Most news organizations start out with good
intentions. Sometimes we get excited about what we find and overstate
the case. Sometimes we get excited about what we find and really need
to dig deeper to find the real story.
"For the Minnesota News Council to assume that
WCCO was looking for a villain, because we could not ask the station
questions, is not a bright spot for journalists in general."
Vote
15-0 to uphold
June 20, 2002
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