Lots of Eyes on the Prize

I’ve written before how vested the Star Tribune has
become in trying to win a Pulitzer or two from the paper’s coverage of
the I-35W bridge collapse. To summarize, bridge collapse coverage is
perhaps the only shot the current generation of editors and reporters
at the paper will have at vying for a Pulitzer. It’s unlikely (God
willing)
that our state will ever again suffer such a freak tragedy
in public infrastructure where 13 lives were lost. The paper,
particularly in the immediate aftermath of the collapse, did extraordinary work under the leadership of then-managing editor Scott Gillespie, who directed the Star Tribune to "flood the zone" in its coverage.

At first blush, winning a Pulitzer would seem to be good not only
for Minnesota’s largest newspaper (and thus our state’s de facto paper
of record) but also for Minnesotans’ collective civic pride. But not
for Minnesota Republicans, particularly those serving in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Administration, like MnDOT Commissioner Carol Molnau and her top staff. As I’ve also written before, some reporters at the paper have crossed civil lines in trying to find what is tried-and-true Pulitzer Prize clinching material: Government malfeasance or neglect. To date, Star Tribune
reporters have yet to find a MnDOT Deep Throat or damning conduct in
the gazillion documents they’ve acquired in dozens of Minnesota Data
Practices Act requests.

But harassing MnDOT employees is not the only objection MnDOT has to the Star Tribune’s bridge collapse coverage. The Department maintains that the Star Tribune
has been playing fast and loose with lots of facts in many of its
stories. So, MnDOT has been keeping a file documenting every
fact that it deems the Star Tribune
has gotten wrong. My sources tell me the file has become inches
high…and that MnDOT plans to make sure the Pulitzer Prize Board
receives it.

I asked PIM staffer Dan Feidt
to call the Pulitzer Prize office at Columbia
University. He was told that there isn’t any formal mechanism for
challenges against a Pulitzer candidate submission, but the Pulitzer
committee asks
the newspapers to include challenges and complaints about their
coverage with the exhibits they submit to be considered for prizes. The
unidentified Pulitzer staffer said, "That’s part of our rules, and
challenges are intended to be presented to the judges alongside the
offered articles."

The operative language
in the Pulitzer Prize submission forms reads: "Any significant
challenge to the honesty, accuracy or fairness of an entry, such as
published letters, corrections, retractions, as well as responses by
the newspaper, should be included in the submission." [Emphasis mine.]

One reasonable interpretation of this requirement would seem to preclude the Star Tribune
from having to submit the MnDOT "error" file. We trust MnDOT will
send that file directly to the Pulitzer Board, the members of which determine
the recipients of the prizes.

Since I first wrote this story for last week’s PIM Weekly Report, MnDOT apparently has decided to make sure the Star Tribune Pulitzer prize submission includes the Department’s objections. Yesterday, the Star Tribune published a commentary piece by MnDOT Assistant Commissioner Bob McFarlin, the "Star Tribune served readers poorly with MnDOT series," in which McFarlin writes that the paper has been "parsimonious with the complete facts."

There’s another interesting wrinkle for the Star Tribune in next year’s Pulitzer awards. Former Star Tribune editor, now Miami Herald executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal, still sits on the Pulitzer Board, and will be voting on the prizes. Current Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes was first hired for a lesser job at the paper by Gyllenhaal when he was editor.

[Note on the Pulitzer links: There is only one link for the whole site.]

"Lobbying" campaigns against Pulitzer Prize awards, by the way, are not unprecedented. A few examples are here, here and here.

No Responses to “Lots of Eyes on the Prize”

1. Anonymous Says:
   April 4th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

   The Orange County California Newspaper

   This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points. For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple. Not printed in the Orange County Paper . Newspapers simply won’t publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they’re pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get published via cyberspace.

   From: ‘David LaBonte’

   My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to ‘print’ it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register :

   Dear Editor:
   So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

   Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today’s American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

   They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

   Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these first generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of Americas one people.

   When we liberated France , no one in those villages was looking for the French American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

   And here we are in 2009 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I’m sorry, that’s not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900’s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

   And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn’t start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

   (signed) Rosemary LaBonte

   KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE RIGHTFUL MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET. LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN.

   I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation