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Re: NC Journal: The T-S and the DA
stee-@asis.com
May 08, 2003 17:09 PDT
This is an exellent editorial, this Easthouse guy is earning his keep over thee...
Joe Shermis
Terrific editorial -- great job Richard.
Mighty Mouth wrote,
Per Michael's request:
From the Editor
The T-S and the DA
by Keith Easthouse
North Coast Journal
5/1/03
Obviously, District Attorney Paul Gallegos is not popular at the moment with
the Pacific Lumber Co. Why should he be? He's suing the company for fraud.
More surprising has been the extent to which the district attorney is
evidently disliked in the editorial offices of the county's only daily
newspaper, the Times-Standard.
True, the T-S has an uneven record when it comes to aggressively covering
PL, so it's not entirely unexpected that the powers-that-be there have
decided that the district attorney's lawsuit is misguided before it has had
its day in court.
But we've been a bit taken aback at the extent to which the paper is
blatantly -- and somewhat clumsily -- going out of its way to discredit the
new DA.
The first sign came on March 5, less than two weeks after Gallegos filed his
case against PL. The lead story that day? "DA a no-show at medical pot
meeting." It was about how "a scheduling error" caused Gallegos to miss a
meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss his new medical pot
prosecution guidelines.
First of all, the story was by definition a non-story; since when is an
elected official missing a meeting front-page news? Secondly, the meeting
itself wasn't all that crucial -- law enforcement officials weren't even
upset. Third, the real story that day was why Gallegos missed the meeting:
turns out he was scaling redwoods with a PL tree-climber; he wanted to get a
hands-on sense for the dangers inherent in tree-climbing.
Irresponsible? That's how the T-S painted it. We think it was an admirable
example of an elected official rolling up his sleeves -- an experience
relevant to his subsequent announcement that he would prosecute
tree-climbers for trespassing.
Fast forward to the lead story on April 19: "EPD cops: Gallegos too easy on
shooters." It was about how Eureka police publicly accused Gallegos of going
easy on two men who went on a shooting spree in March. Legitimate story?
Absolutely. But hardly balanced.
Tucked in at the end of the fourth paragraph was what should have been in
the first or second paragraphs: the fact that the two men are facing seven
years in prison. On the "jump page," several paragraphs after a Eureka
police detective was quoted as saying that Gallegos' handing of the cases
was "inexcusable," the reader finally gets Gallegos' reaction: "Do you think
asking for seven year in prison is going easy on them?" Great quote. Except
it was buried.
April 23, front page. A story on the effort to recall Gallegos, which was
brewing then but not yet official; and a piece about how Assistant District
Attorney Tim Stoen, who's handling the PL case for Gallegos, plans to file
additional charges.
Both important stories. So was a third one on the front page that day, about
an $800,000 settlement with Sierra Pacific Industries over pollution from
its mill site next to the Mad River Slough on Humboldt Bay. In addition to
SPL, parties to the settlement included the state Fish and Game Department,
the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Department and the District
Attorney's office. But you wouldn't have known form the article that the
last was involved at all.
Assistant District Attorney Paul Hagen was described as the "county's
environmental circuit prosecutor." The press conference, held in the DA's
fourth-floor office, was described as having taken place in the "Humboldt
County Courthouse." Not a mention of the DA, who was at the press conference
alongside Hagen, nor of the DA's office in the entire story. Which in a
weird way is impressive. "Shows tremendous writing ability to be able to do
that," Gallegos political advisor Richard Salzman remarked sardonically.
Finally, there's the April 25 editorial "Gallegos needs to deliver as DA" in
which it was asserted that Gallegos said during last year's campaign "that
he planned to serve only one term." According to a front page T-S story of
Feb. 10 of last year, Gallegos said something a bit different: that he "did
not see himself serving two terms -- in fact quite likely just one four-year
term."
In other words, Gallegos at that point in time was merely leaning toward a
single term. In other words, the editorial contains an error. Why that
error? We wouldn't think of suggesting that the paper was trying to plant
the idea that Gallegos is not committed to the job for the long haul.
Yes, Gallegos needs to deliver as DA. And the T-S needs to start delivering
in its influential role as the local newspaper of record.
------------------------
Michael Shellenberger, President, Lumina Strategies,
www.luminastrategies.com, phone 510-525-9900, fax 510-288-1325, mobile
415-309-4200
---------------------------------------------
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