Determination
133
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of Minnesota Department
of Transportation v. Star Tribune
Background
On March 15, 2002, the Star Tribune published a news story about Department
of Administration officials who questioned MnDOT’s legal and
ethical behavior in awarding contracts for work on the intersection
of Hwys. 55 and 62, associated with the light-rail project. An Administration
official, Kent Allin, was quoted as saying, "The culture of MnDOT
is to act the bully, throw one’s weight around, villainize anybody
who stands in your way and not worry about wasting tax dollars."
Complaint
1. The headline "MnDOT contracts called illegal" did not
fairly reflect the facts of the situation or of the published story.
2. The page-one placement of the headline was sensational, inflammatory
and misleading, in that it implied a pattern of wrongdoing that the
facts did not justify.
3. The news story listed items and quotes that make serious allegations
of wrongdoing are not backed up by facts.
4. The news story is unbalanced, and it unfairly sides with MnDOT
’s critics in the Department of Administration.
5. Reporting on the independent audit was incomplete and did not reflect
audit’s findings that MnDOT contracts were made within legal
and ethical bounds under both state and federal law.
Response
The Star Tribune says its headline and story accurately reflected
what officials charged with exercising oversight of MnDOT activities
had alleged. The newspaper says the headline and the story draw attention
to "a dispute over the behavior of the state’s transportation
department, which spends millions of dollars of public money annually
[which] is important and is of interest to the public. The Star Tribune
did not raise this dispute. It was raised by the public officials.
The community should expect its newspaper to cover it."
The Star Tribune also said that the audit did not
conclude that MnDot’s contract awards were clearly legal and
ethical. The newspaper says the audit warned that "there were
grounds for further inquiry regarding a number of allegations suggesting
that MnDOT, in certain instances, had failed to adhere to best contractor
bidding and selection practices, or had failed to exercise adequate
management oversight after contracts were awarded."
Discussion
MnDOT Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg criticized the Star Tribune’s
reliance on "a few Department of Administration employees with
a clearly vested interest" in protecting their power to exercise
control over MnDOT contract awards.
Chris Ison, Star Tribune projects editor, said that
when MnDOT ‘s Tinklenberg cited the audit’s conclusion that
the agency was in the clear, "he left out the opening phrase
that said, ‘generally speaking,’" MnDOT’s activities
were above board. Ison said the audit went on to cite allegations
that needed investigation of serious problems in the awarding of contracts.
Pioneer Press Editor, Vicki Gowler, supported MnDOT’s challenge
to the Star Tribune headline: "The Pioneer Press talks a lot
about putting both sides in the headline [and the sub-headline]. I
would have done it differently [from the StarTribune]." MnDOT’s
view did not appear in a headline until the continuation of the story
on an inside page.
Many News Council members said they felt that readers
were quite able to sort out the various contentions in the story.
Tony Carideo, a former Star Tribune staff writer now in public relations,
said, "The state’s customers are taxpayers and citizens.
The oversight responsibility of the media for an agency spending so
much money and dealing with public safety is the overriding factor
in my thinking when I look at this story."
Reed Anfinson, publisher of the Swift County Monitor-News
said if the outcome of the story was to get two state departments
to clean up their process, it is a public service.
Vote
Complaint 1: not upheld (9-3)
Complaint 2: not upheld (11-1)
Complaint 3: not upheld (11-1)
Complaint 4: not upheld (10-2)
Complaint 5: Not upheld (8-4)
August 22, 2002
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Determination 134
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