A lusty debate between whether the Joplin Globe should have access to e-mails from various Missouri Southern State University officials continues, especially in the comments section of the Globe article on the request.
And while some raise legitimate privacy concerns, most of these, especially those which bring up student records (which could not legally be included anyway) appear to be orchestrated, likely by the same individual who is spearheading the petitions to keep Bruce Speck as president of MSSU.
Lost in the battle over the e-mails has been the repeat of a habit the Joplin Globe has fallen into in recent years- substituting blanket FOIA requests for basic, shoe leather reporting.
Globe reporters and editors would probably have most of the information they are seeking if they had not frittered away the past couple of years serving as a public relations outlet for the university.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with reporting the good things that are happening at Missouri Southern, but when significant events are occurring and they are either ignored or superficially covered by the Globe, it is hard to take the newspaper seriously when it all of a sudden discovers there's trouble in River City. The same trouble has been ongoing for months, it just has not appeared in the pages of the Joplin Globe.
The Globe was never able to dig in deeply enough to find out why Julio Leon was driven out of his position as university president, or why everything associated with Leon, notably the International Piano Competition and the university's international mission, was suddenly on the chopping block.
The Chart and The Carthage Press were the only publications that treated the demise of the International Piano Competition as a news story, and those publications, without the resources and the manpower of the area's newspaper of record, were not able to fully answer the question of why these programs, which brought distinction to the university, were suddenly toxic to then Board of Regents President Dwight Douglas and his rubber stamp unit.
When it came to the selection of a replacement for Leon, the only time the Globe appeared remotely concerned was when Douglas and the board violated the Sunshine Law by deciding the makeup of a search committee in an illegal closed session. The Globe was right to rip the Board of Governors for that transgression. Unfortunately, that was as close as the newspaper came to doing its duty when it came to the replacement search.
Questions should have been raised when only two of 41 applicants were deemed worthy of interviews. And when one of those finalists dropped out, taking a position at another school, and it became obvious that Dr. Bruce Speck was going to be the new Missouri Southern president, that's when the checking should have begun in earnest.
Globe reporters should have been examining court records, looking over Speck's published works, and most importantly, talking to those who worked with him at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn., and at Speck's previous posts.
As far as I have been able to determine, only one person from Austin Peay has ever been quoted concerning Speck.
And since Speck arrived, the controversies concerning his dealings with employees, his attempts to eliminate programs and his horrendous public relations gaffes have either been ignored by the Globe or just briefly mentioned.
The Globe, as it has done in the past, notably on Joplin Police issues, has substituted blanket Freedom of Information requests for good old fashioned shoe leather reporting.
This has been a problem not just for the Joplin Globe but for the media in general. If something cannot be found by Googling it, just think up every name that might be involved and ask for every record that any of those people might have.
The Globe's approach on this story and other controversial issues mirrors what we see in much of the traditional media these days. If there is an issue, find one person in favor and get a quote; find one person who is opposed and get a quote, and let those quotes serve as the whole story rather than determining just what the truth is. That may give the appearness of objectivity, but it makes it appear that both sides are equally right and equally wrong, which is almost never the case.
I hope that the documents the Globe seeks eventually come into their hands, but in the old days, reporters would have found a way to get most of those documents without ever having to resort to a Freedom of Information request.
The Globe has missed the big stories at Missouri Southern State University for the past two years. This appears to be a Hail Mary attempt to get back into the game.
10 comments:
"Lusty" debate. Maybe the debate is lively, spirited, or fierce, but surely lustiness is not a factor.
Leon needed to be gone and so did the piano competition....did nothing for students...and the Carthage Press was nothing but a suckup to give a reporter a free trip to New York....
did you question that, Randy? You question every time a reporter gets any free trip at the expense of some one or some group they cover...
let's hear your complaint with the PRESS over that piece of candy
If I remember correctly, John Hacker spelled out that arrangement in his articles. In the past, I have singled out reporters who have written positive stories and never mentioned that the trip was paid for by subject of the article.
just because they "mention" it makes it all right?
Randy, I think the general conclusion of your article points out why most(?) of the traditional media is dying in this country. There's a market for real news produced through shoe leather reporting and papers like The Wall Street Journal prove that people will pay for it, even on the web.
There's certainly a market for opinion, be it writing an article with a few opposing quotes and/or the staff inserting their own opinions, but not many people are willing to pay (much) for that, as the failure of the TimesSelect feature of The New York Times perhaps showed.
"Talk Is Cheap" and with Blogspot et. al. everyone today has a soapbox if they want it. Your essential blog shows just how much can be accomplished today, even without your being able to devote much shoe leather to it.
So if the traditional media ever decides to return to shoe leather reporting and give us some value for what they ask, they may have a future. As it stands now, it looks grim ... but as you point out, by and large we've already lost most of what we value from it....
I might add my 2cents.....there are numerous stories in this area and none get so much as a glance from the local media despite being handed information on a platter. The MSSU story is at the front of the list for the time being.
Some reporters who are supposed to be covering local city meetings don't take the time to show up and write their article(s) from press releases sent out by the cities. How is that for reporting? I understand the need to be unbiased, however rarely are both sides given a thorough research for publication.
I see very few articles that represent investigative reporting. I don't know if it's lack of time, lack of space in the paper or lack of dedication that is needed to be addressed. Are the papers afraid they will loose readers if more than 3 or 4 paragraphs are written?
http://www.carthagepress.com/opinions/columnists/x1588596271/An-opportunity-and-a-decision
I have teased John Hacker about this.
But there is no one more ethical and above board in the four-state area media than John Hacker.
He told his readers. And his reasons were justified.
Leave a good man alone.
And I sign my name.
If T. R. H. is defending someone, they are really in trouble....
At least he is defending someone using his own name instead of ripping into someone anonymously.
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