Suing for Sources



April 28, 2001



BROOKE GLADSTONE: After the first hundred days it seems that sometimes the media can't get out of the way of politicians, but sometimes official comment is hard to come by. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania one politician has become so tight-lipped that a newspaper is ready to sue. In a commentary in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader on Sunday, editor Alison Walzer [sp?] charged county commissioner Tom Mikowsky [sp?] with selective silence. She says he has violated both the First and 14th Amendments by refusing to comment to her paper while talking volubly to her competitor, the Citizens' Voice. Times Leader editor Alison Walzer joins us now. Alison Walzer, what has county commissioner Mikowsky done that your paper disagrees with?

ALISON WALZER: You know we do, as general reporting, we ask him lots of questions -- why are you doing this? Why are you spending this money? And he has said now I won't comment to your paper. This is not appropriate. We circulate to more people in this county than anybody else, and these readers deserve to know what's going on in their county government.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Do you have a couple of specific instances when he's denied you access?

ALISON WALZER:I mean there are so many. We've had a lot of budget shortfall articles because our budget is short, and he won't answer any questions on that. We have to just get the information out of the budget itself. Then when he gives press conferences, we are there; he knows not to exclude us in that way, but the minute the press conference ends, if the other newspaper reporter goes up to him, he will answer questions. If we go up to him, he says no comment.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:So how has the county commissioner's actions affected your general coverage of events? Can you go ahead and do your job thoroughly without him?

ALISON WALZER: We can. It takes longer, because we have to gather documents which we often run into the county solicitor saying I have to research the law on whether this is public. We almost always get access eventually. We also have to run a lot of stories that say Mikowsky said this, but the truth is that. We are less comfortable running that kind of story without a comment from Mikowsky to explain himself!

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Now you allege that Mikowsky's actions constitute a violation of the First and the 14th Amendment. Does the Constitution oblige anybody to talk to the media?

ALISON WALZER: I had a lawyer look into this cause I am not a lawyer, and this lawyer cited several cases where the courts have upheld the news media's right to equal access; not any special privilege, but equal access.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Ah! So if he froze everybody out, he'd be on stronger legal ground.

ALISON WALZER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Obviously there's a long tradition in American politics wherein politics play favorites with the members of the press who are cooperative. Where do you draw the line between playing favorites and giving the cold shoulders to the one you don't like and an actionable offense?

ALISON WALZER: Well I, I think it's fair play when some reporter has made you more comfortable and therefore you're - you call them first. Other reporters might call you just at the right time and get an exclusive story, and I think there's no responsibility for you to then call any other news sources to give this out. However, if there's a story that is of public interest and you are asked that question by two media sources and you answer one and not the other, that is where the Constitution steps in and says that's not fair. That is not equal access.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So why has he chosen to single out your paper not to communicate with?

ALISON WALZER:Probably because we've been critical in the past! In one case he had a fight with our reporter; he called the reporter a jerk. He dared us to suggest that he resign, and we did! We editorialized that it might be time for you to resign!

BROOKE GLADSTONE:The competing paper in Wilkes-Barre, the Citizens' Voice, doesn't seem to have any trouble getting the county commissioner to speak up.

ALISON WALZER: No, because the Citizens' Voice prints what Mikowsky feeds to them.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: What does Mikowsky say to your allegations?

ALISON WALZER: Well he won't respond to them.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: [LAUGHS] Not surprisingly.

ALISON WALZER: Obviously he told the Citizens' Voice that this is sour grapes because we don't get stories that the Citizens' Voice does.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Do you think the Citizens' Voice did a good job on this story?

ALISON WALZER: No. I think it was total propaganda that Mikowsky probably wrote for them or crafted and then they just put their byline on. The reporter who writes these stories has done lots of business with the county and has gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars through this relationship. So personally I think the whole thing stinks.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:A lawsuit is undesirable because it's expensive and it takes so long, but will you actually take that path if you don't get any satisfaction?

ALISON WALZER: If we have to. If we have to.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well thank you very much.

ALISON WALZER: All right.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Alison Walzer is editor of the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Joining me now is Paul Gallius [sp?] who is the managing editor of the Citizens' Voice in Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Gallius, welcome to On the Media.

PAUL GALLIUS: I'm happy to be here.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: We were just talking to the editor of the Times Leader, your competitor in the town who seems to be suffering a complete freeze-out by the county commissioner. Your paper isn't laboring under that affliction, are you?

PAUL GALLIUS: No, we're not. Generally people are willing to talk to us.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: How come the Citizens' Voice doesn't have a problem and the Times Leader does?

PAUL GALLIUS: In our news reporting we really try hard to achieve some sense of fairness, and we think that's why people across the political spectrum, we hope, have a respect for us and are willing to talk to us.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:To be perfectly blunt, the editor of the Times Leader told us that she thinks you're just in the tank with the county commissioner.

PAUL GALLIUS: Well, that's, that's the position she's been taking and her newspaper has been taking for quite a while. If there's a problem, the problem is on their end, and we think a lot of it is personal, a personal animosity toward one political party, toward people in that political party. Public officials are, are, are demonized. It's just - it, it's a very dangerous approach and one that really doesn't serve the community well.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:The Times Leader and its advisors say that the county commissioner has a legal obligation to talk to them. Would you support them in a lawsuit that said just that?

PAUL GALLIUS: Well does, does, does he have a legal obligation? I think he's meeting that obligation at all of his public meetings, press releases that are put out from what I understand he answers questions - you know. Does he have to subject himself to an interview when he knows he's going to be--attacked and, and, and personally criticized? I, I, I don't know. I think that's something he would have to answer with, with his own legal people.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: But Mr. Gallius don't you think there's a serious issue here?

PAUL GALLIUS:Do I think there's a serious -- darn right there's a serious issue! It's a very serious issue here! Certainly -- our credibility -their credibility - everyone's credibility is, is at stake here!

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And everybody's credibility including county commissioner Mikowsky's is at risk.

PAUL GALLIUS: That's r-- that's correct.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So don't you think Mikowsky should just let them have ac-- the same kind of access to him that he gives to you?

PAUL GALLIUS:Well I don't necessarily know that we get any kind of extra access. In other words the implication here is she's make-- she's trying to portray that we're being spoonfed information, and that is not the case.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well also Mr. Mikowsky returns your calls.

PAUL GALLIUS: For the most part I - he probably does.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So that's a big advantage too.

PAUL GALLIUS:It certainly is! Any, any time you can - you know - there's an old a-- there's an old axiom in our business -- a reporter is only as good as his or her sources -- so yeah, there is, there is some truth to that.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Well thank you very much.

PAUL GALLIUS: Okay. Happy to respond to your questions.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Paul Gallius is the managing editor of the Citizens' Voice in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. On the Media invited Wilkes-Barre county commissioner Tom Mikowsky to comment, but he respectfully declined. He'll be hearing from our lawyer.