Robert Herickhoff complained that The Free Press’s coverage of the issue misled the public and unfairly impugned the reputation of school board members. He charged thatThe Free Press did not check the veracity of the allegation of voting illegality before publishing the accusation and that, given the uncertainty of the legal status of the vote, the paper should not have published a front-page story. He said that, contrary to the editorial’s assertion, the study session was well advertised, well attended and did not involve “secrecy and behind-the-scenes arm twisting.” Finally, he complained that the follow-up article again suggested that the board may have acted illegally.

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Attending the hearing at the Lutheran Brotherhood Auditorium, representing Northwest Airlines were Jon Austin, Director, Corporate Communications; Ruthie McKee, Sr. Vice President, Customer Service and Line Maintenance; Dr. Clayton Foushee, Vice President, Flight Operations, and Christopher Clouser, Sr. Vice President, Administration. Representing WCCO-TV were Jacquee Petchel, Senior Producer; Don Shelby, Anchor and Reporter; John Culliton, former General Manager; and Ted Canova, News Director.

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Mork complained that an opinion piece was based on false rumors. Her complaint contended that Andy Hilger, the editorialist, had an obligation to check Ringsmuth’s assertion that the MCGFDA committee had pulled books from school libraries without the authority or knowledge of the school board and that she was a prime mover in censorship, and offering an opportunity to respond after an editorial has already aired is not sufficient for fairness and balance, but that the editorial needed to include her version of the facts.

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The health department alleges that KSTP presented an inaccurate and unfair picture of activities at a department retreat at Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge, near Brainerd, in the fall of 1993. The TV report implied that workers were playing, at taxpayer’s expense, when they should have been working and that the retreat could have been held elsewhere for less expense. Additionally, they say a hidden camera was used under circumstances where such use violated ethical journalistic practices.

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This grievance concerned two issues. First, that the Globe’s story violated reasonable journalistic standards by portraying anonymous comments from fewer than 250 persons as a statistically valid survey (the paper’s circulation is 14,000). Second, that the Globe unfairly denied letter writers an opportunity to criticize the newspaper.

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.

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.

A Mankato orthopedist complained that the newspaper ran a story, with a display headline and photograph on the front page of the local section, in which a woman who had picketed his office called him a liar, but in which he did not receive an opportunity to reply. He said the Free Press’s display made it a big story in a small town and did not adhere to the least standard of ethical fair play: “It can take years to build up a reputation that can be destroyed (by the press) in seconds.”

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A Mankato State University professor complains that the Star Tribune failed to contact him for a story on problems in the Indian Studies program that quoted a student accusing him of arbitrarily changing her grade.

The complainant claims the television station acted contrary to “accepted journalistic conventions” in ignoring an embargo placed on a news release by the complainant.

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