If the hit log is any indication, the post tonight about Brenda Cirtin and her statement that the News-Leader did not call her before posting comments in today’s editorial about her is of interest to many of you. I’ll admit I was pretty harsh on the News-Leader in my comments and it wasn’t about defending Ms. Cirtin as much as it was my belief that if you’re going as far as to say someone’s trying to intimidate someone else you should at least call them.
Before I wrote my post, I sent an e-mail to Don Wyatt of the News-Leader asking for the N-L’s reaction to Ms. Cirtin’s letter to the council claiming the N-L was inaccurate in their editorial. I also tried calling as I noted in that post. The reason I tried to contact Mr. Wyatt was because I’d had interaction with him in the past and I had no idea who wrote the editorial because it had no byline.
Tonight, I received an e-mail from David Iseman, interim Voices editor concerning the post I had made and stating that he was the author of the editorial in question. He said that he would love to hear what people think of the editorial and that his phone number is 836-1167. (Yes, I have permission to post it here.) He said they would record any comments from readers and post a link to them online.
So I want to give Mr. Iseman props for having the tennis balls to stand up and say “I wrote this and if there’s a mistake I’m going to correct it.” No matter how you may feel about the editorial pieces in the N-L you have to respect someone in today’s usually hostile media environment who stand up and say “I wrote this.”
Now, I want to apologize to Mr. Iseman because from the tone of his e-mail I believe he thought I was saying he was deliberately avoiding accountability for his writing. I had attributed the fact there was no identification as an institutional position of Gannett (the paper’s corporate owner) and not the decision of the individual editorial writer and I apologize for not making that clearer in my post. There was no byline during the Tony Messenger days and it was a pretty common assumption then that Tony was the guy behind the editorials even with no name attached to the writings.
And I also give him props for sending me that e-mail tonight claiming ownership of the piece and giving his phone number and inviting people to call with comments. He stood up and took it head-on and I respect that. I invited him to call and have at me tomorrow morning when I’m guest hosting Morningline on KWTO and I hope he will take up the invitation.
Again, Mr. Iseman, you have my respect for standing up and contacting me tonight on all of this.
Edit: Just after I posted this, Mr. Iseman e-mailed that he was very busy in the AM so he wouldn’t be able to call the show. (Bummer.) He did want me to note here that no one has contacted the News-Leader asking for a correction to the piece. I find that more than a little interesting.
