Determination 96: Pam Coyle v. Austin Daily Herald
During this hearing, Coyle brought up complaints on two issues. First, that an item under the headline “Police Report” inaccurately stated that her job status had been discussed at a city/county Law Enforcement Commission meeting, when it had not. Second, that the paper treated her unfairly by running 10 items in its editorial-page feature “Anonymous Comments,” criticizing her and calling for her dismissal from her job.
Determination 95: Candidate Sally Evert v. Stillwater Gazette
Former Washington County commissioner Sally Evert complained that the Gazette was unfair to her re-election campaign by running a front-page article under a four-column headline promoting her opponent’s candidacy, with a byline of a writer who was a campaign worker for him, but who was not so identified. It also ran her opponent’s thank-you to his supporters as a guest column, with his picture, but ran her thank-you as a letter to the editor with no picture. FInally, it ran a critical letter to the editor without saying that the writer was her opponent’s campaign manager.