KUOW reports on... itself

    News organizations HATE it when they become the news.

    But KUOW couldn't ignore the Cliff Mass flap in the end, so they sic-ed veteran reporter Deb Wang on the story. She talked to a Poynter Institute ethic consultant and called in a special editor from outside the KUOW newsroom. Here's Wang from the news dep't Facebook page talking about tackling the story that was sticky-wicket to report at best.

(photo: Deborah Wang)

I’ve been a reporter for a long time, but this is the first time I’ve ever covered my own organization. It’s a tricky assignment and fraught with difficulties. The potential for conflict of interest is an obvious one. The first call I made was to Kelly McBride, an expert on journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute. She gave me a rundown of best practices for how to cover your own organization: 1) stay independent, 2) use your best journalistic judgment, 3) strive to serve your audience and not your organization, 4) work with an outside editor, and 5) communicate clearly with your audience how you covered the story. That advice, and in particular point #3, stayed in my head as I reported this. A couple of the people I interviewed expressed doubts about my ability to report on the issue fairly. I tried very, very hard to be fair and balanced, and also to tell a good story. To edit the story, we turned to Kate Concannon. She is a former Western Bureau Chief for NPR and now is a freelance editor, with no connection to KUOW.

    Gotta say, seen through the porcelain eye of a good reporter, KUOW's position is pretty solid. Listen or read a transcript of Wang's back-strainingly fair piece here.

    (Couldn't help being reminded of how different public radio's journalistic standards are than KIROFM's, as displayed in this story)

Comments

[SeattleJew]

Mike ..

You are drinking too much of mthe Kool-Aid .. or perhaps you need lessons in bureaucratease.

Wang covere thr stroy ins self fulfilling way for KUOW. ALL of the UW .. KUOW too, lives by the mantra called "compliance." Compliance is nt thics .. it is a set of rukles intended to be sure the bureaucratcy does not get caught braking the law or admin rulkes.

The issues with mass are NOT whether he can sue Scher or initiate any legal option, the issue is simple .. why was this done and who wanted it this way?

The answer, I suspect, is that this is an typical UW censorship of a perfessor who was making comments the official PR CREW FEELS if they SHOULD CONTROL.

If you really want to investifate this, I would be happy to suggest an FOIA to begin with ... try getting Norm Arkans email related to KUOW [email protected].

[Coiler]

It was done because Mass broke his word and is a megalomaniac in the tradition of "John Galt".

There are plenty of other stations to listen to when someone spouts off on a tangent without regard to a counter-viewpoint.

That is KUOW's argument.

[Andrew]

Does KUOW have a lot of friends at the UW? Is this how this works?

[SeattleJew]

Despite the public's view of the University as being run by its faculty, the UW is pretty thoroughly in the hands of administrators who often have no incentive to do anything other than build their own administrative careers.

I suspect that is what has happened here. Cliff likley ticked off the UW's PR Department of the School of Ed. Remember that the Ed school itself is training grounds for primary and secondary admins.

These folks sit on the KUOW board AFIK KUOW does not have a faculty board .. though that would seem like a good idea. So, when admins complain, KUOW listens and screw any concept of the station being a voice for the best and the brightest of the UW or, for that matter, the region.

[SeattleJew]

On the other hand, I would guess that Mike's arguments about Cliff Mass and KUOW would be quite familiar to any intellectual living in China ,working for FOX News, or for the Blessed Blethens.

[Coiler]

It's winding down. Cliff is getting about 10 comments a day on his blog. He really has a problem with his supporters calling for a boycott of KUOW while insisting he go back on the air.

[KS]

The more Cliff Mass gets mentioned on this blog, the more popular he will become. He's following in the footsteps of Dori Monson. At this rate, he'll end up with a show on KOMO or KIRO-FM soon.

No one associated with Dr. Mass is calling for a boycott of KUOW - coils is just playing like Media Matters and the Alinskyite that he is and making up stuff that will demonize the adversary.

[Itchy]

Regarding the KIRO Radio made-up bull-shit story about colorful spheres: has any one in management at KIRO or Bonneville addressed this issue?

Will Bonneville continue to pretend like their staff never just made up a totally phoney news story?

Is it okay to just make up bullshit and call it news if it matches your corporation's right-wing agenda?

I realize we only get rehashed newspaper stories from KIRO and breathless updates on Lady Gaga and American Idol. But could we at least try to stick to shit that's true?

[Pete]

BlaM's point about the contrasting standards of KUOW and KIRO-FM is pretty telling. Whatever you think of Wang's story, the KIRO-FM version would have had her simply interviewing KUOW PD Don Nelson on what a bad, bad person Cliff Mass was, and how great a new Friday feature is. It's the difference between a station's news department and its promotions dept.

[Andrew]

KIRO radio doesn't have journalistic integrity, the just pretend to. They could make up a story, source Dori Monson who received an anonymous phone call and there would be no correction issued as one would expect from a legitimate, authentic news source. What they do is a performing art. Having the movie critic fill in for the lead morning anchor is your tell. Having the afternoon anchor join in with Dori on the offering of opinion is your tell. That would be like having Bill O'Reilly and Brit Hume share one desk. Even FOX NEWS knows there's a fine line to be drawn.

[Puget Sound Blathers]

So Andrew, let me get this straight: KIRO Radio doesn't employ any journalist with ethics?
The folks over at mynorthwest won't like that talk. Better that you walk that back a bit and amend lest Linda Thomas and Bill Radke take offense.

[Itchy]

What's so bad about KIRO's reporting?

A female caller claims to be a teenage student at a christian school and also claims to do volunteer work at a public school.

The female caller does not give her name. The female caller does not name her christian school. Nor does she name the public school where she claims to do volunteer work.

The female caller also says the public school teacher she volunteers for is having an easter egg hunt, but is refusing to call them easter eggs. The teacher is supposedly calling them 'colorful spheres.'

The female caller who is not identified and doesn't name her school or the school where she volunteers, is also not giving the name of the teacher.

She doesn't give us her name, her schools' names, the name of the teacher, the name of the neighborhood, the name of the principal, the name of any students or the name of any parents.

Other than that, it seems like a very thoroughly body of research and excellent journalism.

After all, not only was it the subject of a KIRO talk show, but it was part of several KIRO newscasts and was a news story on the KIRO website.

Not sure what you people want Bonneville to apologize for. Maybe when they win a Pulitzer prize for this piece of investigative journalism you assholes will shut up.

[ProgBlogJunky]

Puget SOund, what itchy and Andrew are trying to say is that unless tehy use the word "Slut" in there its not jounalism.

[sparky]

Brietbart is back at it too. Friday he tried to sell his readers on a really bad copy/paste item that purportedly showed Rep. Anthony Wiener tweeting a picture of an erection inside boxers to a woman. He wanted everyone to ignore the different colored background on the tweet of Rep. Wiener's profile picture and heading than the rest of his message..but that doesn't stop him from threatening the Congressman that he has much more damning pictures. What a moran.

[sparky]

KS, go read Mass's blog comments. The majority of those posters are claiming they will stop listening/contributing to KUOW now that Mass is off the station. Several have suggested that others do the same.

[ProgBlogJunky]

Maybe Sparky, maybe Weiners account was hacked.. But you must ask yourself the question. Why would Rep. Weiner have a photo of his junk in the first place.

[ProgBlogJunky]

And good news everyone. Obama finally found time to vist Joplin Mo. I hope he didnt have to pass up a good game of golf for this trip. Maybe he can play a round or two, im sure there are a lot of courses in Mo. that havent been damaged by that tonado.

[KS]

Sparky - does that make Dr. Mass a conduit for evil Rethuglicans (as others here call them) ? PBJ probably has it pegged correctly. It would help if KUOW's PR addresses the wishes of the community and I know that Cliff Mass has a petition for reinstatement that will be forwarded to KUOW soon.

Speaking of Obama and journalism, here is an interesting article about how he reacted to a front page op-ed about Romney to the Boston Globe -

Punish the Globe for their deeds

Be honest - Do you think that was really called for ?

[KS]

What is a moran ? There is probably at least a kernel of truth in that piece by Mr. Breitbart on Wiener. Now, I would classify Wiener as a moron and a loose cannon.

it is well-known that Breitbart is the liberal progressives' biggest nightmare, because he is adept at catching them being themselves and saying things they don't want the dumbed down masses (by their belief) to hear that he is able to put out in the alternative truth. He is one of the foremost whistle blowers and to that I salute him, although he does not always get it 100% right - no one ever does..

[sparky]

Go to Google Images and type in "morans" and you will see a gentleman holding up a sign that was meant to send a message to those protesting the Iraq War.

[KS]

OK - if Andy was involved there, it might fit and if it did it was more than likely due to the stupidity in some of the signs displayed by the leftists - or those who support Ron Paul for Pres.

[sparky]

uh huh.

[ProgBlogJunky]

Obama call the dwstruction of Joplin, Mo. a "National Tragedy".
Hmmm, lets see, didnt he call Katrina the samething. If so, why the delay in getting there. Could racism be a factor?

[sparky]

Watching "Too Big To Fail" on HBO..about the banking "crisis" in 2008. Fascinating to watch these men play with money as if it is their own.

[Puget Sound Blathers]

i feel sorry for the young lady who is essentially a private person and has found herself to be subject to public embarrassment/harassment. She says that she has nothing to do with it and should be believed.
In order to help vindicate himself, and the young lady, Congressman Weiner should follow the Palin Model when her email etc was hacked by having a full investigation of the person(s) who did this and seeking prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.

I would find it hard to believe that Congressman Weiner would be so dumb to engage in such activity. I may not like everything he says, but I do think he is a decent person.

[Napoleon Dynamite]

If you find it hard to believe, then don't strain yourself. Gawd!

[Puget Sound Blathers]

Nap, stop huffing those paintfumes otherwise you'll end up like Coiler.

No doubt the Congressman will demand and receive a full probe by the FBI.
It won't take long to take down these hackers who got on to his website, posted an incriminating picture, and then sent it off to an innocent third party.

[Empire Builder]

What's the whole rightwinger fascination with male genitals thing?

[North Coast Limited]

it could be envy or failure to come to terms with ones own identity I have noticed this a lot with people like Larry craig and others

[KS]

Here's the full unbiased story from the Politico, unlike the bias smear on Breitbart version in the Daily KOS that is more yellow journalism on display;

"Rep. Anthony Weiner says social networking identity hacking is to blame for the lewd material that a conservative news website reported was sent from his Twitter and yfrog handles to an unidentified woman in Seattle.

The New York Democrat told POLITICO he thought it “obvious” that his account had been taken over, and he tweeted that his Facebook account had been hacked with the abbreviation “FB hacked.”

A photo of a man’s bulging gray boxer-brief underwear was posted to Weiner’s account with yfrog — an online image-sharing site — on Saturday night, according to biggovernment.com, which is run by Andrew Breitbart. The photograph is from the waist down, and shows no face.

“The weiner gags never get old, I guess, ” the veteran lawmaker emailed a POLITICO reporter in response on Saturday.

“This evening a photo surfaced on Congressman Weiner’s yfrog account and in his verified Twitter timeline of a man in his underwear with an erection,” Publius, the handle for the site’s editors wrote. “The photo was reportedly sent to a woman on Twitter. We’ve protected her name and her account, which was at one time verified to be active but has since been deleted after the photo in question was deleted. Coincidentally, the rest of the photos in the congressman’s alleged yfrog account were also deleted around 11 p.m. eastern.”

Biggovernment.com writes that the woman in question is a college student who lives in Seattle and notes that another Weiner tweet from Friday, about an upcoming appearance on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC program, made reference to when the program would air in Seattle.

After the incident, Weiner continued to tweet.

“Thanks to all my new followers im drawing close to Bachmann. #ScrappyChasingCrazy,” he wrote at 6:35 p.m. Saturday, in the last posted tweet.

Weiner’s office — generally one of the most press friendly around — did not respond to a request for comment on whether he has contacted federal authorities to report the alleged cyber-attack, which could fall under laws prohibiting cyberhacking and impersonating federal officials.

Whatever the case with the Weiner incident, it’s clear that the age of electronic communication is leaving politicians with even less privacy than they had in the past.

Earlier this week in Weiner’s home state, a special election was held to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of married Republican Rep. Chris Lee, who sent a shirtless photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist. Previously, Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, was the victim of a cyber-attacker who hacked into her e-mail account and published the contents online.

In the Palin case, the hacker was convicted on two federal charges, including gaining unauthorized access to a computer, and sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

And if true, Weiner certainly would not be the first high-profile person to have his Twitter hacked — celebrities from conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly to pop star Britney Spears have had rogue messages posted to their accounts.

Weiner, 46, was first elected to Congress in 1998 after serving six years on the New York City Council. He ran for mayor in 2005 and is seen as the presumptive frontrunner for the 2013 race."

[chucks]

I really don't have any expertise on this matter, but I really have my doubts about that being the junk of a grown man. It looks more like that of 12 or 13 year old middle school boy.
I did hear that Barney Frank is going to open an investigation and get to the facts of the matter. He is going to do a thorough study, including a direct examination of the package involved.
It is common knowledge that this is Franks area of expertise and concentration.
Frank will be examining Weiners wiener and will be frank in his report.
Hot dog, what a story.

[joanie]

You actually believe everything you read that harms the left, don't you, KS? You have absolutely ability to investigate, think and evaluate before comeing to assinine and ignorant conclusions. Even in this day of Adobe-shopged-Breitbart-ized -James "The wanna-be Pinp" O'Keefe.

Just how stupid do you want to look over and over and over?

Chux, you ceased being funny a long, long time ago. Now you're just pitiful.

[KS]

I investigate and judge accordingly- its too bad you don't, but rather bloviate ignorant and stale propaganda. You call names because you have no argument, just your own putrid pinko opinions (say that 10 times without stopping) Suffice to say, your hate filled rants are part of the problem.

I just believe the truth and it is a coincidence that much of the truth harms the left. You seems to want the moderates and conservatives to look stupid over and over with your ad-nauseum dishonest debate.

As a tit for tat maneuver, spooky-dude - Dr. Evil George Soros is driving the debate. If he would withdraw the millions he has invested for propaganda purposes in the American Media, Andrew Breitbart would not be what he is today. As long as Soros and the leftwing smear machine try to drive the debate with their yellow repugnant slime they call journalism - expect Breitbart and new conservative media types to continue to bring on the counterpoint and the expose the seamy underbelly of the leftwing quasi-marxists who quest for power and control with their cast of useful idiots who are only to happy to kill our civilization - they might as well recruit loony leftists to be suicide bombers ? (whaddya think ?)

[joanie]

You are nothing but a windbag. That's what I think.

[KS]

Back at ya - It takes one to know one.