Tom Robbins is the second distinguished journalist to occupy the post at Hunter College, established to honor Newfield. Robbins, a former colleague of Newfield's at both the Voice and the Daily News, will teach a course entitled "Urban Investigative Reporting" and will also assist students in researching and writing a lengthy article or series of articles focused on an aspect of city life. "Whether tomorrow's journalists are writing online or on paper, we need more of them who understand and share Jack Newfield's passion for justice and the city he lived in," Robbins says in a press release.
Adam Clay Thompson has won the 2005 George Polk Award for Local Reporting, Editor & Publisher reports. Thompson, a senior writer for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, won for his series "Forgotten City," which exposed poor living conditions in San Francisco's public housing. The Polk Awards have been awarded by Long Island University since 1949.
The most-viewed story on AAN's collaborative news site, AltWeeklies.com, is "Porn, Hypocrisy, Plagiarism: The Dark Side of Jacksonville's Daily," which appeared in the Oct. 12, 2004, edition of Folio Weekly. Written by freelancer Billee Bussard, it accused Florida Times-Union's then-editorial page editor Lloyd Brown of -- among other things -- staring at porn in the workplace and plagiarism. Brown came under fire and stepped down from the daily, only to be hired as a speechwriter by Gov. Jeb Bush (the day after Bush fired a top official over sexual harassment allegations). Now the St. Petersburg Times reports that Brown has stepped down from that post as well.
In May 2004, Willamette Week staff writer Nigel Jaquiss called Oregon State Senator Vicki Walker. He wanted to talk to her about the business dealings of Neil Goldschmidt, a prominent Oregonian and former governor. Instead, she tipped the reporter to what would become a major scandal. Portland Monthly tells the story of how Jaquiss, through months of tireless investigation, revealed the long-buried truth that Goldschmidt had sexually abused a 14-year-old girl; and how one reporter's efforts led the alt-weekly to scoop The Oregonian, a major daily with a staff of 300.
Lloyd Brown, editorial page editor at the Florida Times-Union since 1993, has resigned after a task force established by the paper found three instances of plagiarism and many other instances of lack of complete attribution. The task force was formed in the wake of Folio Weekly's Oct. 12 cover story, written by a former Times-Union staffer, which accused Brown of publishing editorials with portions lifted directly from documents produced by right-wing groups. In a letter that appears in the Times-Union's Nov. 2 edition, publisher Carl Cannon writes, "I have a high level of respect for [Brown's] philosophy."
Folio Weekly's Oct. 12 cover story accuses the Florida Times-Union -- and editorial page editor Lloyd Brown, in particular -- of publishing editorials with portions lifted directly from documents produced by right-wing groups. The article, penned by former Times-Union editorial writer Billee Bussard, has prompted the Jacksonville daily to launch an internal investigation, reports Editor & Publisher. Times-Union publisher Carl Cannon says, "I would never expect to find plagiarism at our paper, and I would be surprised if we did in this case." Brown tells reporter Joe Strupp: "I think we try to base our editorials on fact, and we have to get them from somewhere."
New Times writer John Dougherty has filed 17 public records requests with Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Maricopa County, Ariz., Office -- and received nothing in return. So, when Dougherty ran into Lisa Allen MacPherson, public information officer for the sheriff's office, he asked her when the records would be produced. "Never," she replied, adding that her office did not recognize New Times as a legitimate paper. When Dougherty reminded her that all citizens have the right to review public records, MacPherson quipped, "So sue us!" The weekly filed suit in Superior Court on Sept. 23, asking that Arpaio and his office be ordered under Arizona law to produce requested documents.
In the Sept. 8 issue of The New York Times, columnist Nicholas D. Kristof casts doubt upon President Bush's fulfillment of his Air National Guard duties in 1972. He produces a "compelling witness" named Bob Mintz, who served at the same Alabama base where Bush claims to have been. Mintz remembers actively searching for Bush to no avail. Kristof asks Mintz, "Why speak out now?" The honest answer is that Mintz first spoke out on the matter to The Memphis Flyer, an AAN-member paper, many months ago. Jackson Baker quoted Mintz in a groundbreaking story posted to The Flyer's Web site on Feb. 12 and updated four days later. Kenneth Neill, publisher of The Flyer, has written a letter to the editor of The New York Times to point that out.
When an attorney for Newsday advertisers filed a federal racketeering suit against the daily paper last February, alleging circulation fraud, the AAN-member newsweekly, Long Island Press, jumped on the story. Reporter Christopher Twarowski found evidence of undelivered papers dumped in landfills, wooded lots and recycling bins, and interviewed former distributors and retailers who supported some of the lawsuit's claims. This week Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen announced his early retirement, and Twarowski reports that a grand jury has been impaneled in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn to hear testimony on the alleged fraud.
