Determination
134
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of
Judy
Peterzen, Osseo School Board Chair v. Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park
Sun-Post
Background
The Brooklyn Center/Brooklyn Park Sun-Post ran an article on July
24 about the Osseo school board’s evaluation of its superintendent
of schools. Judy Peterzen is the chair of the school board. She complained
that the article was unfair to her, that it failed to explain a neighboring
school board’s policy and that it failed to summarize the board’s
evaluation in detail. She also complained that her follow-up letter-to-the-editor
was unfairly edited.
Complaint
Complaint 1: The news article as a whole was unfair to Judy Peterzen
Peterzen’s complaint alleged: that the Sun-Post was unfair in
its use of the word "breach" in reporting differences among
school board members over the evaluation of the superintendent, implying
that she violated her duty; that the Sun-Post’s inclusion of
information on the Robbinsdale board’s evaluation of its superintendent
was unfair because it did not explain the legal process the Robbinsdale
board followed, and; that the article showed bias against Peterzen
as school board chair by reporting five times that she had not provided
a summary of the board’s evaluation of the superintendent.
Complaint 2: The editing of Peterzen’s letter
to the editor as a whole was unfair.
Peterzen’s complaint alleged: that the Sun-Post was unfair in
changing the language of her letter from "A report in the Sun-Post
on July 24 was embellished to give an impression that I was in violation
of my duty." to "A report in the Sun-Post on July 24 may
have given some the impression that I was in violation of my duty";
that the Sun-Post unfairly deleted from Peterzen’s letter her
explanation of the Robbinsdale action; that the paper unfairly changed
the language of her letter from "But if you look closely at that
law, it states that a ‘summary of results‘ must be given
. . ." to "But if you look closely at that law, I believe
it states that . . . " and; that the paper showed bias by deleting
from Peterzen’s letter the
following line: "A possible explanation for what I believe is
highly charged and biased reporting is that the writer disagrees with
the decisions being made and has lost a sense of objectivity."
Response
The Sun-Post declined to take part in the hearing but sent a written
response to the complaint. The paper’s response said that the
law could be interpreted differently, so it felt the need to qualify
her words with the insertion of "I believe." The paper acknowledged
that it would have done well to use brackets around the phrase, or
some other device, to let the reader know the words were not Peterzen’s.
Discussion
Council members, representing both the news media and the public,
felt strongly that when a person is the subject of aggressive reporting
and editorializing, as Peterzen was, a news outlet should give that
person a lot of freedom to defend herself and to criticize the news
outlet.
"I think that when a paper is critical of a public
official in print," said Duluth News Tribune editorial editor,
Pia Lopez said, "it should give the widest possible latitude
for response after that."
Council member Mike Parta or New York Mills, a former president of
the Minnesota Newspaper Association, said, "It’s important
for our readers to know we allow that type of open discussion"
of a paper’s work.
Peterzen objected to the Sun-Post’s including
in its story information about how differently the Robbinsdale district
handles evaluation of its superintendent, since there was no discussion
of that topic at the Osseo board meeting that was the subject of the
story. St. Paul Pioneer Press executive Editor Vicki Gowler responded
by saying, "Your comment [about a reporter doing independent
gathering of data] is jarring to me. The role of a journalist is not
stenographic. Our job is to make comparisons, give context and go
deeper so the public can better understand an issue."
Peterzen contrasted the Sun-Post story with a heavily
edited and rewritten version that appeared a week later in a sister
publication, the Osseo-Maple Grove Press. She said that version of
the story was fair, as was the version of her letter to the editor
that ran in the Press.
Council members agreed that a newspaper could do well to call a letter
writer to clear changes before publication and, if a letter is considered
too long, offer a writer the chance to shorten it while preserving
its strongest points.
Brandt Williams, a reporter for Minnesota Public Radio,
responded to Peterzen’s claims of bias. He said that the idea
shouldn’t just be thrown out. While he couldn’t decide on
the evidence of bias specifically, he said, "it would be a concern
of mine."
Vote
Complaint 1: not upheld (13-4)
Complaint 2: upheld (17-0)
November 21, 2002
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Determination 135
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