Here in the patch, we think Herald-Standard.com editor Mark O'Keefe needs to expand his plea for new tips. It clearly isn't enough that he has implored the public to please let him know what's going on in the news. He now needs to make a direct appeal to Liz Zemba, the Tribune-Review reporter who works for his chief competition.
It was Zemba who skunked Herald-Standard.com a couple of weeks ago, by reporting that during a meeting of the Fayette County Salary Board, District Attorney Jack Heneks revealed that staffing changes he asked for would facilitiate creation of a grand jury he plans to convene a in the near future. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_788886.html
Amazingly, Herald-Standard reporter Amy Revak, who attended the same March 28 meeting as Zemba, did not mention anything about a grand jury in her story. Nor did Revak follow up the next day, as did Zemba, who on March 29 got further explanation from Heneks in the story, "Fayette DA seeks to empanel grand jury." http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_789079.html
It is not every day that the district attorney seeks to put together a grand jury. (And here in the patch, even we know that one of the likely matters headed for this particular grand jury concerns voting in Bullskin Township.)
In any county, the news of an impending grand jury is certainly a newsworthy event. And by mentioning it at a public meeting, Heneks was certainly not trying to make a secret of the fact. He was pretty much opening the door and inviting any inquiring mind to ask.
After Zemba pretty much covered all the bases with her Thursday story, O'Keefe's charges finally got into the act. On Sunday, April 1 -- four days after the salary board meeting -- the Herald-Standard's Jennifer Harr finally did a story that basically mirrored what Zemba had put in print two days earlier. We have little doubt Harr was given mop-up duty on this one.
The question O'Keefe should be asking himself -- and that readers as well as upper management should be asking themselves -- is why any of his reporters could have been so asleep at the switch. Does anyone besides Amy Revak really think that the reclassification of four sheriff's deputies and the resulting pay raises of $2,500 each is more important and newsworthy than the convening of a grand jury?
Showing posts with label Mark O'Keefe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark O'Keefe. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Missing the Mark
Here in the patch, everyone knows the hallmark of good journalism is accuracy. People have to believe that what they read in a news story is actually what happened, or is really what the quoted source said. Without accuracy, everything unravels.
Thus, when everyone at the fire hall gathered to hear the inaugural words of wisdom from HeraldStandard.com's editor Mark O'Keefe -- promoting his weekly Web-based feature "On the Mark" -- they were flabbergasted to hear this plea from the newsroom's Grand Puba:
"If you see a story and you think, 'Well, gee, that really wasn't accurate' or whatever, please give me a call."
http://www.heraldstandard.com/multimedia/videos/on-the-mark/youtube_82e59a06-5c26-11e1-86e8-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=multimedia
Really, you can't make this stuff up. Things must be really, really bad at a newspaper if its editor is willing to go online and serve as an apologist. How else can you better describe O'Keefe basically making excuses for missed stories, and saying things like, "Please give us a call. We need to know (what's going on)."
Note to Mr. O'Keefe: It is the JOB of your reporters and editors to know what's going on in the community you claim to serve. If that's not happening, it's not the public's fault for not telling you; it's your fault for not having a staff that's in-the-know.
When O'Keefe makes an admission that his news operation is going to make a mistake here and there, and that it "isn't perfect" and isn't going to be "100 percent," he is basically asking readers to accept less of a professional standard than they deserve. Perhaps their motto shoud be, "We aren't perfect," or "We get it right most (or some) of the time."
That said, we take heart in knowing that O'Keefe wants readers to contact him directly, be it to tell him what's going on, or to point out inaccuracies, or to help in the effort to "report on the good things" that are happening. (His number is 724 439 7569 and his email is mokeefe@heradstandard.com)
By mistake, some of your questions intended for O'Keefe were sent to our email account. Feel free to forward any these questions to O'Keefe, who should be more than eager to answer them in next week's episode of "On the Mark."
Dear Mark,
I saw where you said, "We have no real bias here. We have no real agenda here." How do you square that with the reporter who was caught on film campaigning for a certain county commissioner candidate in last November's election? And can you please explain how that story on the Fayette County Conservation District, which cast another candidate in a bad light, got into print right before election day, right under your nose?
Sign me,
Ain't buyin' what your sellin'
Dear Mark,
I have read the Herald-Standard for many years, and I am confused. Do you not endorse candidates for magisterial district judge as a consistent policy, or do you only not endorse in those races when your wife is a candidate?
Sign me,
Magisterial district judge candidate not named O'Keefe
Dear Mark,
I saw where you said you would answer questions about school boards. I read recently where one school board was touting its food service program as the best, and saying it should be used as the model for all school districts in the county. My question is: Can anybody order food for their wedding reception under a school district's food procurement contract, and have it delivered to and stored on school property? Or do you have to know someone? Pease ask around your office and get back to us.
Sign me,
Hungry for Knowledge
Dear Mark,
I read where you wrote an editorial that was highly critical of District Judge Michael Metros for closing a proceeding to the public. His reason, I think, was that the case involved a young girl who was emotionally and mentally fragile. I think you are right on this one, in that the law doesn't give him the right to pick and choose which cases to hear in public. But I would like to know if your reporter objected, and if so how strenuously, when Metros announced he was barring the press from the hearing. Shouldn't that be something your reporters are taught to do? Are you taking any steps to make sure they know to stand their ground in the future?
Sign me,
Silence Isn't Always Golden
Dear Mark,
In the past year, did you ever personally get a report from a borough council member that one of your reporters who covered that borough was calling council members, lobbying them to vote a certain way on a big issue? If you did get such a call, what immediate action or actions did you take?
Sign me,
Ethics in Action, or Ethics Inaction?
Dear Mark,
I read where you praised Uniontown City counciman Gary Gearing for questioning the expenditure of $80 a month by Mayor Ed Fike, so he could go on WMBS radio once a month and give a State-of-the-City address. At the same time, you criticized Fike for this plan.
But not long ago, you fully supported the county's use of $60,000 in tourism tax money to launch a tourism channel on a cable TV system that only serves half the county. What's the difference? At least the radio station's signal reaches everyone in the city. And could you please tell us what the broadcasting of the Fayette County commissioner meetings has to do with tourism?
Sign me,
Looking for Consistency
Thus, when everyone at the fire hall gathered to hear the inaugural words of wisdom from HeraldStandard.com's editor Mark O'Keefe -- promoting his weekly Web-based feature "On the Mark" -- they were flabbergasted to hear this plea from the newsroom's Grand Puba:
"If you see a story and you think, 'Well, gee, that really wasn't accurate' or whatever, please give me a call."
http://www.heraldstandard.com/multimedia/videos/on-the-mark/youtube_82e59a06-5c26-11e1-86e8-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=multimedia
Really, you can't make this stuff up. Things must be really, really bad at a newspaper if its editor is willing to go online and serve as an apologist. How else can you better describe O'Keefe basically making excuses for missed stories, and saying things like, "Please give us a call. We need to know (what's going on)."
Note to Mr. O'Keefe: It is the JOB of your reporters and editors to know what's going on in the community you claim to serve. If that's not happening, it's not the public's fault for not telling you; it's your fault for not having a staff that's in-the-know.
When O'Keefe makes an admission that his news operation is going to make a mistake here and there, and that it "isn't perfect" and isn't going to be "100 percent," he is basically asking readers to accept less of a professional standard than they deserve. Perhaps their motto shoud be, "We aren't perfect," or "We get it right most (or some) of the time."
That said, we take heart in knowing that O'Keefe wants readers to contact him directly, be it to tell him what's going on, or to point out inaccuracies, or to help in the effort to "report on the good things" that are happening. (His number is 724 439 7569 and his email is mokeefe@heradstandard.com)
By mistake, some of your questions intended for O'Keefe were sent to our email account. Feel free to forward any these questions to O'Keefe, who should be more than eager to answer them in next week's episode of "On the Mark."
Dear Mark,
I saw where you said, "We have no real bias here. We have no real agenda here." How do you square that with the reporter who was caught on film campaigning for a certain county commissioner candidate in last November's election? And can you please explain how that story on the Fayette County Conservation District, which cast another candidate in a bad light, got into print right before election day, right under your nose?
Sign me,
Ain't buyin' what your sellin'
Dear Mark,
I have read the Herald-Standard for many years, and I am confused. Do you not endorse candidates for magisterial district judge as a consistent policy, or do you only not endorse in those races when your wife is a candidate?
Sign me,
Magisterial district judge candidate not named O'Keefe
Dear Mark,
I saw where you said you would answer questions about school boards. I read recently where one school board was touting its food service program as the best, and saying it should be used as the model for all school districts in the county. My question is: Can anybody order food for their wedding reception under a school district's food procurement contract, and have it delivered to and stored on school property? Or do you have to know someone? Pease ask around your office and get back to us.
Sign me,
Hungry for Knowledge
Dear Mark,
I read where you wrote an editorial that was highly critical of District Judge Michael Metros for closing a proceeding to the public. His reason, I think, was that the case involved a young girl who was emotionally and mentally fragile. I think you are right on this one, in that the law doesn't give him the right to pick and choose which cases to hear in public. But I would like to know if your reporter objected, and if so how strenuously, when Metros announced he was barring the press from the hearing. Shouldn't that be something your reporters are taught to do? Are you taking any steps to make sure they know to stand their ground in the future?
Sign me,
Silence Isn't Always Golden
Dear Mark,
In the past year, did you ever personally get a report from a borough council member that one of your reporters who covered that borough was calling council members, lobbying them to vote a certain way on a big issue? If you did get such a call, what immediate action or actions did you take?
Sign me,
Ethics in Action, or Ethics Inaction?
Dear Mark,
I read where you praised Uniontown City counciman Gary Gearing for questioning the expenditure of $80 a month by Mayor Ed Fike, so he could go on WMBS radio once a month and give a State-of-the-City address. At the same time, you criticized Fike for this plan.
But not long ago, you fully supported the county's use of $60,000 in tourism tax money to launch a tourism channel on a cable TV system that only serves half the county. What's the difference? At least the radio station's signal reaches everyone in the city. And could you please tell us what the broadcasting of the Fayette County commissioner meetings has to do with tourism?
Sign me,
Looking for Consistency
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Don't call us, we'll call you
You would think that a newspaper story bearing the headline, "Fayette radio host says shale criticism led to firing" might be something of interest to folks in Fayette County, Pa. And you might guess that any newspaper claiming to best serve that readership would be the likely source of that story's publication.
Guess again.
The aforementioned story, on last month's pre-election firing of long-time WMBS radio talk show host Bob Foltz, appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 30. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11150/1150213-55-0.stm
That it did not appear in the Herald-Standard has left more than one person here in the patch scratching his head. After all, we did read this boast from editor Mark O'Keefe, in his Dec.5, 2010 column "Ethics issues taken seriously": It's paramount that our newsroom maintains its independence and covers stories objectively. It's what we're trained to do. Our aim is to give all sides a fair airing of their views.
Independence? Objectivity? A fair aiting of all views?
Then why, pray tell, have O'Keefe and the newsroom he ostensibly leads played deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to any coverage of what happend to Foltz? Certainly they cannot pretend it was unnewsworthy, when a big metropolitan paper 50 miles away sees its news value. If this head-in-the-sand approach keeps up, perhaps the Herald-Standard should change its motto to, "Ignorance is bliss."
Over at the church bingo Friday night, one of our neighbors, who has a cousin who knows Foltz pretty well, found out that the affable ex-talk show host sent a letter detailing his side of the firing to ALL area newspapers, including the Herald-Standard. The cousin says that while the Post-Gazette used the letter as a starting point and quickly put a reporter on the story, all Foltz got from the Herald-Standard was a phone call from O'Keefe, saying the Herald-Standard couldn't run his letter.
Fayette Countians should be asking themselves one simple question: If the Post-Gazette can do ""what we're trained to do," and "give all sides a fair airing of their views" -- to borrow O'Keefe's own phraseologies -- what is keeping his newspaper from doing the same thing?
In the Post-Gazette story, Foltz is quoted thusly: "It amazes me that the station took this stance. It was a combination of politics and (comments on) the drilling" that forced him out.
The Post-Gazette, doing the job as it should be done, also printed this rebuttal by WMBS station manager Brian Mroziak: "The natural gas stuff had absolutely nothing to do with Bob being let go."
We doubt that entirely, but what's more interesting to us is that Mroziak apparently didn't rebut Foltz' belief that politics was also a factor. When we turn on the radio and in Foltz' old spot hear Mike Krajovic, the head of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council who gets a $180,000 a year compensation package, blather on about high gasoline prices and the national energy picture, the handwriting on the WMBS wall becomes a tad more visible. Especially when the "host" of that particular show is Fay-Penn employee Bob Junk.
What is keeping the Herald-Standard from doing a news story, other than an unwillingness or inability to tackle any real controversy?
Guess again.
The aforementioned story, on last month's pre-election firing of long-time WMBS radio talk show host Bob Foltz, appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 30. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11150/1150213-55-0.stm
That it did not appear in the Herald-Standard has left more than one person here in the patch scratching his head. After all, we did read this boast from editor Mark O'Keefe, in his Dec.5, 2010 column "Ethics issues taken seriously": It's paramount that our newsroom maintains its independence and covers stories objectively. It's what we're trained to do. Our aim is to give all sides a fair airing of their views.
Independence? Objectivity? A fair aiting of all views?
Then why, pray tell, have O'Keefe and the newsroom he ostensibly leads played deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to any coverage of what happend to Foltz? Certainly they cannot pretend it was unnewsworthy, when a big metropolitan paper 50 miles away sees its news value. If this head-in-the-sand approach keeps up, perhaps the Herald-Standard should change its motto to, "Ignorance is bliss."
Over at the church bingo Friday night, one of our neighbors, who has a cousin who knows Foltz pretty well, found out that the affable ex-talk show host sent a letter detailing his side of the firing to ALL area newspapers, including the Herald-Standard. The cousin says that while the Post-Gazette used the letter as a starting point and quickly put a reporter on the story, all Foltz got from the Herald-Standard was a phone call from O'Keefe, saying the Herald-Standard couldn't run his letter.
Fayette Countians should be asking themselves one simple question: If the Post-Gazette can do ""what we're trained to do," and "give all sides a fair airing of their views" -- to borrow O'Keefe's own phraseologies -- what is keeping his newspaper from doing the same thing?
In the Post-Gazette story, Foltz is quoted thusly: "It amazes me that the station took this stance. It was a combination of politics and (comments on) the drilling" that forced him out.
The Post-Gazette, doing the job as it should be done, also printed this rebuttal by WMBS station manager Brian Mroziak: "The natural gas stuff had absolutely nothing to do with Bob being let go."
We doubt that entirely, but what's more interesting to us is that Mroziak apparently didn't rebut Foltz' belief that politics was also a factor. When we turn on the radio and in Foltz' old spot hear Mike Krajovic, the head of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council who gets a $180,000 a year compensation package, blather on about high gasoline prices and the national energy picture, the handwriting on the WMBS wall becomes a tad more visible. Especially when the "host" of that particular show is Fay-Penn employee Bob Junk.
What is keeping the Herald-Standard from doing a news story, other than an unwillingness or inability to tackle any real controversy?
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