Columbus Dispatch lets OLCA member write story on OLCA denial of membership case

Note the URL title tag of the Dispatch story on the incident:

blog.dispatch.com/dailybriefing/2008/01/reporters_to_bloggers_butt_out.shtml

Nice, whomever wrote that, real nice. James Nash - especially since OLCA is your organization - was that you? Should we impute that “butt out” thing to you? How exactly would you convince us not to? Ugh. I simply cannot believe that Paul Kostyu would ever say that, at least not on the record, let alone on the Internet where you can pretty much never erase it.

I have nothing against you personally, James. Remember that time on Capitol Square - the Ohio News Now program with Dan Weist (three OLCA members (you, Dan and Paul Kostyu) up against two bloggers - pretty cute, huh?)? You actually didn’t even speak one word - not one, while Paul Kostyu, the president of OLCA said everything. I never did understand what that was all about, though I know you have seen Matt Naugle out socially (coincidentally I assume, not in a planned way). And you’ve responded to an e-mail here and there that I’ve written, always prompt and polite.

But this fact that you, an OLCA member, wrote the news item about your association rejecting bloggers for membership is not only too ironic for me, it sets up a conflict of interest that gives the perception of bias, if not actually being biased. Such a practice should be impermissible. Why isn’t it? How do you, the Dispatch or Paul - whom I really do like, based on correspondence, explain this?

Come on. Couldn’t there have been a more above board way to report what’s going on? Or not report it at all - I would have preferred that, personally.

Anyway, look at the word choices in your piece. Is there any question that you have a stake in what you wrote? Who writes on themselves (or a group to which they belong) like that, in a hard news story? That would be like new Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch writing a non-opinion front page story for the Journal about his behemoth company, News Corp. which owns the Journal.

Do you know I once wanted to write a very soft news story about my synagogue because it was doing something incredibly unique and the Plain Dealer editor involved loved the idea but I revealed, of course, that I was a member of the synagogue and his boss said that I couldn’t write the story (it was a feel-good piece about how a group of eighth grade Jewish students re-enact a shtetl in Burton Century Village - during the peak of syrup tapping season when they have literally thousands of visitors for Sunday pancake days) because of that?

So how do you get to write this story about the OLCA?

The Dispatch could have and should have found a non-OLCA credentialed staffer to write the story, James. You know it, I know it - they know it.

Here’s the post in question and here’s the comment I left:

Now, James - don’t you think someone who is not an OLCA member should have written this post, so that there would be no possibility of there being even a perception that you have an interest in how the story is written - since you are credentialed by and a member of the OLCA?

Yes - there’s some zootzing in that, but seriously - the Dispatch should have had someone else write this story who is not an OLCA member. The irony if not the actualy conflict is a bit much.

Thanks.

I’m too nice.

Update: Let’s suppose that maybe James didn’t write it - but whomever posted it used his name. I know that happens at a few papers. James, I hope you’ll let us know if in fact that piece wasn’t written by an OLCA member. That would be nice to know, if that’s the case.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:17 pm January 12th, 2008 in Government, Statehouse, Ohio, Media, Politics, Blogging

Comments

4 Responses to “Columbus Dispatch lets OLCA member write story on OLCA denial of membership case”

1 John Michael Spinelli on January 13th, 2008 1:46 am

Whether it was Mr. Nash or someone else who wrote the “Daily Briefing” blurb on the rejection by OLCA of the three journalism candidates ePluribus Media’s OhioNews Bureau forwarded to OLCA, the fact remains that it underscores the unspoken and indefensible political bias that is used against new-media citizen journalists by mainstream media reporters.

I was an accredited, member-in-good standing of OLCA for three years. My picture hangs twice in the Ohio Statehouse press room as evidence of that fact. From first-hand observations, I know the long-standing anxiety several OLCAns had for the day when a “blogger” (I don’t use that term because Mr. Nash and other have so denigrated it) or a reputable citizen journalist, as I am and as the two OhioNews Bureau colleagues who were my colleagues in this request are, would seek membership.

While pursing a plan to establish a network of statehouse news bureaus and the desire to augment our ability to do original reporting were two good reasons to seek accredited status in Columbus, one of equal value was the pioneering importance of challenging the established, entrenched status quo of the Statehouse press corps that is staunchly but subjectively defended by OLCA members, some of whom have a vested business interest to keep others at bay.

It’s clear from the comments made on this site and others, OLCAns are either oblivious or in serious denial of their own prejudice and bias against a practicing journalist like myself, who is as knowledgeable, informed and writes as many stories each week as does any OLCA member. OhioNews Bureau stories are not built on gossip or chatter. They are sourced and fact-checked by a team of volunteers at ePluribus Media, who reside in different states but who work collaboratively on these and other stories.

The stories are likely more informational that most mainstream news stories, which are linked to with frequency. We’re not penned in by space demands or slaves to the inverted-pyramid style of journalism that is so prevalent today or conflicted about speaking out on topics that might offend or the gore the ox of an advertiser. For these reasons and more, I’ll put any of my stories up against any mainstream media story. It’s my belief that journalists, whether they are honest enough to admit to it or not, approach most stories with an attitude.

We have achieved our goal: to force them to make a call on us and our candidates. They did. The reasons given to deny us are flimsy, self-serving and from our reading of their constitution, beyond their own requirements. Pointing to your group’s organizational documents to make your point is fine, but when we’re in compliance with those documents, its not right to use other unwritten criteria to judge us by.

This rejection is not the end of our efforts, but just the beginning.

John Michael Spinelli - OhioNews Bureau Chief
ohionews@epluribusmedia.org
OhioNews Bureau
2 75% of journalists use blogs for story ideas, angles and insight | Writes Like She Talks on January 13th, 2008 2:52 pm

[…] course, if those news media outlets don’t stop flouting their own policies related to political bias and adherence to professional standards, bloggers may find ways to shut them out. function toggleview(element1) { var element1 = […]
3 Jill Miller Zimon on January 13th, 2008 10:40 pm

John - I think you know how much I appreciate your efforts (and those of your colleagues) and I am 100% behind them. I’ve not had any direct contact with the OLCA folks since this all happened, but I have every hope and expectation that I will and they will converse. This issue has to be resolved in a way that serves Ohio news consumers, because the last thing we need is the people who are trying to cover who governs the people being upbraided by others who think it is solely their domain (even if non-OLCA members have access to other statehouse halls etc.).

No disrespect is intended to anyone trying to present truth and facts, but again - that Dispatch piece - OY!
4 Second call on ODP Chair Chris Redfern: condemn this now | Writes Like She Talks on April 27th, 2008 11:04 am

[…] style that has the reporters drawing conclusions, telling us, rather than just showing us. But then James Nash was allowed to write about his own credentialing organization’s rejection of a blogger application, which is an obvious conflict. So I don’t know why […]