In May 2007, local artist Mari Newman filed a complaint about an article in the Minnesota Daily, the student newspaper of the University of Minnesota. A review of a play called “The Madwoman of Chaillot” had opened by referencing the disabled artist as a local “crazy woman.”
Participants included the complainant, Nancy Barsness and editor/general manager of the Morris Sun/Tribune, Jim Morrison.
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.
In February 1990, KARE-TV, Channel 11 ran a three-part series depicting abuses in the state welfare system by welfare recipients. At the time, certain remedial legislation was being proposed in the legislature. The general thrust of the series was that large sums of welfare funds were being lost because of fraudulent claims by recipients and that the public authorities were devoting insufficient resources and personnel to investigate the fraud. Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) filed a complaint with the Council, claiming that the program contained factual inaccuracies. As the basis for its complaint, WAMM relied on a two-page fact sheet prepared by the Department of Human Services entitled “Corrections to False or Misleading Statements in KARE 11 Welfare Fraud Series.”A Question of Standing: On occasion, the Council may sponsor a forum to discuss a media topic; in this setting, the question of standing does not arise. When, however, the Council hears a particular charge against a particular newspaper or television station, the Council generally requires that the complaining party have standing, i.e., some immediate, direct personal interest which is adversely affected by the news story. The requirement of standing gives some assurance that both sides of the dispute will be adequately presented and represented; that the issues will be well-defined; and that due process is accorded the party against whom the complaint is made.
The City, Inc. is a social and educational community service organization working with troubled inner-city youth and their families, particularly in the African American and American Indian communities in Minneapolis. On October 7, 1989, the Star Tribune published an article titled “The City Inc. and The Way survive criticism.” The complaint is twofold:
That the article gives an inaccurate and racially insensitive portrayal of The City.
That a representative of the organization is misquoted as making a racist remark.
Ron Edwards appeared for the grievant. Tim McGuire, managing editor, Peg Meier, reporter, and Lou Gelfand, reader representative, appeared for the Star Tribune. About 20 visitors attended the hearing. Those speaking on behalf of the complaint were Mahmoud El-Kati, Carol Ann White, Dr. James T. Shelton, Jusef Mgeni, and Nellie Stone Johnson.
Grievant Nancy Barsness complains that the Pope County Tribune failed to give fair and adequate coverage of a sex discrimination claim against Watkins Aircraft Support Products, Inc. (Watkins or WASP), a light manufacturing firm located in Glenwood, Minnesota.
The Proctor City Council complained that the weekly paper:
Ben Sternberg, professional boxing promoter, complained that the newspaper, through the use of inflammatory graphics and writing and the manipulation of facts, falsely implied in an article that he was a racist and somewhat of a Mafia figure.
A man named Burtrand, high priest of the Church of Wicca (a religion known also as witchcraft), complained that the newspaper was unfair when it associated witchcraft with satanic activities in two articles published on its religion page, headlined “Occult.” Burtrand claimed that the layout, taken as a whole - including artwork, photographs and articles - perpetuated negative and erroneous stereotypes about the occult.