Former Sun-Times staffers provide some perspective on controversy over Dave McKinney's departure
As you may recall from y earlier posts, Chicago Sun-Times' Springfield reporter Dave McKinney was pulled from his beat for five days after writing an article about the Republican candidate for governor (a candidate who happens former stakeholder in Wrapports and whom the paper wound up endorsing under questionable circumstances). After he returned to work, McKinney reached the point where he felt that he couldn't trust the Wrapports higher-ups not to interfere with their reporters, leading him to quit the paper.
Chicago Sun-Times building (Photo via Robertfeder.com)
Around the time I was putting that second post together, the Columbia Journalism Review magazine did its own piece on the controversy. What makes this one different was that contributor Deborah Douglas interviewed some former Sun-Times employees to get their take on the situation.
“Whereas we don’t have all the answers, we have way too many questions about what happened here,” says Susy Schultz, president of the Community Media Workshop. “I can’t answer all these questions, but it does seem like political influences have come into play. That’s the picture we get. Just by hinting at that, it sullies the Sun-Times.”
Eric Herman, a former Sun-Times reporter, said: “It’s kind of scary the way this played out. I think we depend on newspapers to be reliable and to have some measure of independence. We understand that independence is never 100 percent, but it has to be there. This whole episode calls that into question.”
And in a statement, the Chicago Headline Club said, “To pull a reporter off of his beat, and offer him what he considers a demotion following a political campaign’s objection to a story, weakens the institution of the free press. This is troubling alongside the decision by the Sun-Times to reverse its three-year, no-endorsement policy and endorse the politician whose campaign initiated the complaint.”
[...]
Herman, who now serves as managing director of ASGK Public Strategies, offers a poignant contrast to the ordeal McKinney describes. He covered the trial and conviction of the Sun-Times’ previous owner, Conrad Black (that’s Lord Black to you) imprisoned in 2008 for looting Hollinger International.
“I was told to go for it. Cover it aggressively,” Herman recalls. “The company had labor problems. I was allowed to cover those. John Cruickshank and [editor] Michael Cooke, to their credit, said go for it. It was utterly straightforward and without interference.”
Douglas was a former Sun-Times staff member herself, so she also talked about her own experience with how the editorial staff dealt with pressure to shift coverage.
It is true that companies and individuals appeal to the highest levels of newsroom management in an effort to bend coverage to their will-and that journalists pay close attention to how management responds. As an editor, editorial board member, and columnist at the Sun-Times for nearly a decade, I was privy to some of those discussions. Publisher John Cruickshank counseled balance, cautioning against taking the “hammer” to companies, or to individuals, without regard for all sides of the story. Later, I recall CEO Cyrus Freidheim inquiring about an editorial board position on a rate hike when pressed by an angry utility company executive. He, too, never mandated an outcome, respecting the journalistic process.
If Sun-Times reporters feel more secure covering controversial issues during Conrad Black's trial, when Sun-Times Media was freaking bankrupt... That says a lot.
Chicago Sun-Times building (Photo via Robertfeder.com)
Around the time I was putting that second post together, the Columbia Journalism Review magazine did its own piece on the controversy. What makes this one different was that contributor Deborah Douglas interviewed some former Sun-Times employees to get their take on the situation.
“Whereas we don’t have all the answers, we have way too many questions about what happened here,” says Susy Schultz, president of the Community Media Workshop. “I can’t answer all these questions, but it does seem like political influences have come into play. That’s the picture we get. Just by hinting at that, it sullies the Sun-Times.”
Eric Herman, a former Sun-Times reporter, said: “It’s kind of scary the way this played out. I think we depend on newspapers to be reliable and to have some measure of independence. We understand that independence is never 100 percent, but it has to be there. This whole episode calls that into question.”
And in a statement, the Chicago Headline Club said, “To pull a reporter off of his beat, and offer him what he considers a demotion following a political campaign’s objection to a story, weakens the institution of the free press. This is troubling alongside the decision by the Sun-Times to reverse its three-year, no-endorsement policy and endorse the politician whose campaign initiated the complaint.”
[...]
Herman, who now serves as managing director of ASGK Public Strategies, offers a poignant contrast to the ordeal McKinney describes. He covered the trial and conviction of the Sun-Times’ previous owner, Conrad Black (that’s Lord Black to you) imprisoned in 2008 for looting Hollinger International.
“I was told to go for it. Cover it aggressively,” Herman recalls. “The company had labor problems. I was allowed to cover those. John Cruickshank and [editor] Michael Cooke, to their credit, said go for it. It was utterly straightforward and without interference.”
Douglas was a former Sun-Times staff member herself, so she also talked about her own experience with how the editorial staff dealt with pressure to shift coverage.
It is true that companies and individuals appeal to the highest levels of newsroom management in an effort to bend coverage to their will-and that journalists pay close attention to how management responds. As an editor, editorial board member, and columnist at the Sun-Times for nearly a decade, I was privy to some of those discussions. Publisher John Cruickshank counseled balance, cautioning against taking the “hammer” to companies, or to individuals, without regard for all sides of the story. Later, I recall CEO Cyrus Freidheim inquiring about an editorial board position on a rate hike when pressed by an angry utility company executive. He, too, never mandated an outcome, respecting the journalistic process.
If Sun-Times reporters feel more secure covering controversial issues during Conrad Black's trial, when Sun-Times Media was freaking bankrupt... That says a lot.