Determination
77
Minnesota
News Council
In the matter of the Complaint of
Scott Vreeland against the Star Tribune
Scott Vreeland presented his grievance and the Star Tribune
was represented by Tim McGuire, managing editor; Mike Finney, deputy
managing editor; Lou Gelfand, reader representative; and Mike Kaszuba,
reporter.
Scott Vreeland, chairman of the board of the Cedar-Riverside
Project Area Committee (PAC), a neighborhood governing body of elected,
unpaid members, complained that an August 4, 1988, article about the
neighborhood in the Star Tribune was "bad journalism."
Background: The article appeared on page one,
with the headline "Cedar Riverside finds itself in a midlife crisis."
Grievant complained that the article did not contact "firsthand sources,"
that some sources were described generally as "neighborhood activist"
and "key official," etc., rather than by name, that the article contained
untrue statements, that the reporter was "hoodwinked" by factions
in a political dispute, that the article was not front-page news,
that alleged problems with the article were "covered up" by an inadequate
correction of an error in fact and a follow-up article which dealt
with only one issue, a lawsuit, and failed to report a significant
comment by the judge in dismissing the lawsuit, and finally, that
the article was "intellectually sloppy" for use of terms such as "left
winger," "hippies," "insiders," etc., and the "midlife crisis" metaphor
of the headline.
Discussion: The Council discussed all aspects
of the complaint but concentrated primarily on the allegations of
factual inaccuracy, attribution of comments as to source, and the
suggested "cover-up" of the article's alleged problems in a correction
and a future article. The article stated that "the whole thing is
ludicrous to me,' said Tim Mungavan, a longtime staff person at the
Cedar-Riverside PAC, who now serves as a consultant to it. Mungavan,
who with his wife lives in a three-bedroom remodeled cooperative unit
in Cedar Riverside, is one of the neighborhood leaders who have come
under criticism for allegedly altering policies that previously gave
the largest living units to large families. He denies he benefited
from decisions made by the organization." A complaint to the newspaper
about the reference to just Mungavan and his wife in the three-bedroom
unit resulted in the following correction published by the Star Tribune
on August 4, 1988:
"An article in Thursday's edition said Tim
Mungavan and his wife (Dorothy) live in a three-bedroom remodeled
cooperative unit in Cedar-Riverside. Mungavan, the article said, has
been criticized for allegedly altering policies that previously gave
the largest living units to large families. The article did not say
that Ann Jacobs, daughter of Dorothy, lives with the Mungavans."
Grievant complained that the correction treated a
false implication "like an error in math." He also said that the policies
were never altered and that persons who would know that they were
not altered were not contacted by the reporter. The Council recognizes
the potential problem of corrections being "out of context," but believes
that the interested reader either makes the proper connection or seeks
an explanation. In this instance, the Council believes the correction
properly set the record straight as to the number of persons living
in the Mungavan unit. Grievant's several references to the policies
not having been changed also lack merit because the newspaper only
said that it had been "alleged" that the policies were rewritten and
that PAC had been "accused" of rewriting them, which is the case.
The Council noted that the article attributed most
quotations to a named source and agreed that a name was not essential
in the few instances where the article referred to sources in more
general terms. The newspaper used several sources for the article
and the Council finds no fault with the newspaper for not using some
of the sources complainant would have chosen.
A January 19, 1989, article in the Star Tribune reported
that a Hennepin County district judge said that the lawsuit against
PAC was not properly before the court because the petitioners had
not exhausted their administrative remedies. The judge further said
in her order that "plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail on the merits
of this case." Grievant complained to the Star Tribune reader representative
that the January 19 story did not report the judge's comments about
the merits of the case. Reader Representative Lou Gelfand wrote in
his column of Sunday, January 22, 1989, that the reporter said he
agreed the comment should have been in the story, and Gelfand added
his opinion that "the judge's statement that the plaintiffs are unlikely
to prevail was almost as significant as her refusal to hear the case.
That should have been in the newspaper." The Council recognizes and
appreciates the reader representative's role of reviewing complaints
and sometimes criticizing the newspaper, and believes that the newspaper's
willingness to print the criticism is ample demonstration, along with
its earlier correction of the only significant error in the story,
that there was no effort to "protect" the first story.
The Council found the original article to be an interesting
historical perspective and update on an interesting and sometimes
controversial community. The article did not deal only with a lawsuit
against PAC but with many changes in the continually developing area.
The Council is hesitant to second-guess an editor's decision about
what is or is not a front-page story and we see no reason to challenge
the newspaper's decision of front-page placement in this instance.
Complaint denied.
Concurring: Casey, Chucker, Falkman, Graham,
Hanley, King, Orwoll, Parrish, Pennock, Simonett, Stauffer, Stone,
Swain
Abstaining: Givens
Dissenting: Larson
June 2, 1989
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