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Dec
23
So, yesterday, I noted how the Plain Dealer left out basic and newsworthy information about the late Michael Connell, an Ohio businessman in all things Internet and computers, who worked with top GOP figures including George Bush and John McCain. The excluded information:
1. The PD doesn’t mention any of the connections Connell had to former Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell or the back end of the SOS’s 2004 presidential election vote compilation.
2. The PD excludes any mention of the federal lawsuit regarding alleged voter fraud and rigging in which Connell had been subpoenaed.
Compare that coverage to this:
Today, we learn the sad and also untimely death of 50 year old Rosemary Vinci. But this time, the Plain Dealer article is replete with information about her connections to politicos and FBI investigations. Look at all the PD had to write, in such a short time (they didn’t report anything on Connell for three days, but Vinci was found at 5pm just last night):
[Cuyahoga County Commissioner and county Democratic Party Chair Jimmy] Dimora and [Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank] Russo are focuses of a federal corruption probe of county government. During a raid of Russo’s home and office, investigators sought pictures of Dimora and Vinci and documents related to Vinci, records show.
An FBI spokesman declined to say late Monday if Vinci was a focus of the corruption probe.
For years, Vinci managed the now-closed Tiffany’s, a high-end strip club on the west bank of the Flats. She recently pursued plans to open a social club at a property she owned in the Flats, but the project stalled because of zoning issues.
She had been active in the local Democratic Party, which Dimora leads.
Three months before the FBI raids, Vinci was at the center of a political storm when The Plain Dealer asked about her job on the county payroll. She made $48,000 a year, but officials gave varying accounts of who her boss was and what her duties were. Dimora ejected two reporters from a public meeting after refusing to answer questions about her.
Russo said Vinci worked for his office only, as a liaison to Cleveland City Hall. But several county employees, including one in the auditor’s office, told the newspaper at the time that Vinci also did work for the commissioners. Vinci said she worked for Russo and Dimora and spoke for both on behalf of the county to City Council members.
Vinci left much of her application for the job blank and did not check “yes” or “no” in the section that asked if she had any felony convictions. So, Russo said he was surprised when a reporter informed him that Vinci was found guilty in 1985 of theft and forgery in Florida. He kept her on his staff because he valued her connections at City Hall.
“She’s a good person,” Russo said at the time. “She committed no crime while on our payroll.”
Vinci’s family has deep roots in the area. Her father operated Diamond Jim’s steakhouse and owned valuable property in the Flats until he was murdered in 1985. Over time, Vinci became a political insider.
Until recently, she had been the head of the Ward 13 Democratic Club, home turf of City Councilman Joe Cimperman. And in 2005, she managed Joe Santiago’s successful council campaign.
She also chaired the Duck Island Block Club and had served as president of the board at Tremont West Development Corp.
Wow. That’s some editorial filtering.
And then, there are six, count ‘em, six hyperlinked headlines, five in a box and one underneath a photo of Vinci, taking you to the following articles:
Previous stories
• Reporters ejected after they tried to ask questions about Vinci
• Councilman Santiago sent Vinci to mentor bar owner
With Michael Connell? Nada.
What could have been the editorial decision-making conversation around the wording of this caption underneath the now-deceased photo:
Rosemary Vinci was a close ally of both County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo.
They couldn’t have just put her name? Her age? Long-time county employee? Small business manager? Mother of…? Daughter of…?
Or just.her.name.
Nope – this woman’s death is only relevant because she “was a close ally of both County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo.”
But Michael Connell? Not a death relevant because he was a close ally of multiple local and state Republican politicians including the former Ohio SOS, Ken Blackwell, and ran the 2004 election night computer relay of results.
So – what explains the difference between the PD’s Michael Connell coverage, which is completely plain vanilla death notice for the most part, and Rosemary Vinci?
For one thing, Vinci is a woman who was involved in an…ooo…strip club.
Connell – nothing nearly as steamy – just the absolute inner-most workings of national Republican campaigns for president.
[You know, one thing I've heard about numerous times at journalism conference sessions about women and the media is how the fact that only 3% of the topmost editors are women impacts not only how many women there are reporting and rising up, in general, but also significantly impacts which stories about women are told and how they are told. This reporting on Vinci might be is a classic example, but with Susan Goldberg at the helm, it's still a valid accusation but certainly not certain.]
Again, if you think I’m just picking on the Plain Dealer, check out how the UK’s The Telegraph, in England, published the story, before the PD’s came out: “George Bush Aide Dies in Plane Crash.” Now, that goes too far – from what I’ve read, I don’t get the idea that Connell was actually an “aide” to George Bush as we commonly understand that role though perhaps during the course of Bush’s election, maybe. But nevertheless, the article goes right into why this death is newsworthy.
If the Plain Dealer is going to continue to publish items in their news pages but leave out the news, they are assuring their demise in the same way the divorcee owner of the Cleveland Indians in Major League was working to assure the demise of that team.
Except one happened in fiction and the other just laid off 50 journalists and staff.
Someone needs to be adjusting those editorial filters big time.
NB: If you wonder why I bother writing entries like this, especially at a time when it seems like I’m not writing as much as usual, it’s because there is just no good excuse. The PD editors and reporters know better – they just know better than to be doing this kind of ridiculousness in the reporting. It is wrong, it’s a disservice and it’s biased. They can give us every explanation in the book and it won’t matter. We can’t know who is going to die or how, but to not provide all the information that makes any one death significant to Ohioans, especially when those deceased are connected to politics, is absolutely inexcusable and should not be tolerated by readers – or, frankly, the editors or reporters. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Either tell us everything, or tell us nothing. But don’t tell us nothing about Michael Connell and then everything about Rosemary Vinci.
I think the editorial decision-making hinged on what the editors thought readers would recognize: that we would recognize Vinci’s name and want to know and read about the Dimora and Russo connections, but they assumed few people would recognize Michael Connell’s name. That’s probably true.
BUT it has NOTHING to do with whether the Plain Dealer, as a paper of record, should be reporting the information in an unbiased and equally complete way.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Sigh.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:01 pm December 23rd, 2008 in Cleveland+, Democrats, Elections, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, Writing
Comments
6 Responses to “PD bias re: deaths of politically-active persons continues”
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I did notice that the some of NE Ohio media seemed to downplay the whole angle of Michael Connell’s political work and connections to McCain and Bush 44. I notice that media outlets elsewhere in OH, including Columbus – along with those outside of OH played up the GOP connections and history Connell had had.
If my Newswriting I prof at Kent State had graded some of of the local reporting on Connell’s death, he would have written in large letters on the paper, “MISSED ANGLE!”…
I meant to say, “Bush 43″. Sorry.
Great post Jill. I think, though, that the reason why the PD is not talking about Connell is that the company that owns the PD likes Republicans and doesn’t like Democrats. Why? Republicans cut taxes and Democrats don’t. As in most things, all you have to do is follow the money.
Vanilla – I’d agree with your professor if he did write that. Maybe that’s all it is – but I don’t think “that’s all it is” states strongly enough just how basic and easy to corroborate that omitted info is. It really makes it look like a planned omission, esp. three days after the event when so much else already had been written.
Anyway – thanks for commenting.
Team member – yeah, I know – I hate asserting that – you know they will deny it, and we know that there are plenty of left-leaners there. But really, it’s just a glaring error and this underestimation of the reader is so last century. A huge error.
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