Superior Chronicle Speaks Out

EDITORIAL - Thursday, April 17, 2008 - On the front page of yesterday's Ironwood Daily Globe is a "pat-on-the-back" article bragging how the paper was honored by the Associated Press for their outstanding coverage of the 2007 Ironwood City Commission election. According to the article, the Globe's coverage took first place for public service in the 2007 Michigan Associated Press Editorial Association news-writing, news-photo and graphics contest. The front page story boasts that the Globe competes against papers with circulation of up to 15,000.

The article states that Karius worked with all of his reporters and edited their stories. "Because of the unusually high number of candidates, the Globe effort was aimed at providing as much information as possible to help the voters make their choices."

"This award," Karius said, "is especially gratifying for our news staff, for two reasons: We put a lot of thought and effort into our coverage and throughout the campaign we were subjected to personal attacks and unwarranted criticism of what we were doing."

"As with most efforts of this size, a number of people on our news staff contributed. But we need to single out reporter Margaret Levra for her determined efforts to dig out relative information about the candidates that was important to city voters. In many instances, it was done in a hostile environment."

Before I continue, I need to make a disclaimer. I don't normally read the Daily Globe - I'm not a big fan of fiction. A friend of mine told me about this article, so I broke down and wasted 75 cents on a copy. So, with that being said, here's my take on the entire matter.

I wonder if the female Hurley dispatcher that the Globe reported to be prostituting herself would like to give the paper her own kind of award. The dispatcher filled out the crime report. The Globe reporter that took down the information mixed it up, and named the dispatcher as the accused. Who wouldn't cherish being publicly called a whore in our "community" paper?

I wonder if the guy that was incorrectly reported to have severed his fingers in a lawnmower would like to honor the Globe. The paper's top notch news staff was once again at work. Here's what really happened. A young man from Hurley was cutting grass in town. He was working for a local contractor. His mower clogged and when he tried to clear the debris, his fingers were badly cut. The contractor ran to the nearest home and yelled for help. An elderly lady lived in the home -- she was in the bathroom -- and she yelled to the man that he could use her phone. After calling 911, the contractor decided to bring the boy directly to the hospital. The owner of the home was the elderly woman's step-son. Because she is older and he takes care of her, her phone was in his name. The incident report did not name a victim in the accident. It simply had the man's name and telephone number on the top of the report. The Globe reported that the owner of the house where the 911 call originated was the victim.

Do you remember when the Globe published the name of a young lady who tragically passed away without waiting for the family to be properly notified? If you don't remember the last time it happened, that's okay -- because it has happened on several occasions. I wonder if any of those families would like to salute our respected newspaper.

Carlson's Supermarket was an anchor business in Ironwood for many years. Erin Carlson was the founder of the store. Four days before his death, the Daily Globe bid farewell to the local business icon and good friend. I wonder how the Carlson family feels about the Globe since that report?

The City Commission met on Monday. The Globe has yet to report the Mayor's appointments. They never mentioned the zoning ordinance changes or the surplus land sales. They don't give their readers the entire story as it happened, they drag it out -- bit by bit -- for two weeks. I wonder if that's what Joe Karius was referring to when he said, "The people deserve and need this kind of reporting and commentary?"

I wonder how many teachers sing the praises of the award-winning Globe? How many articles contain misspellings; grammatical errors; and repeated, misleading, unimportant or inaccurate facts? How many times has the Globe misidentified people in their photographs?

As most of you know, I was one of the fifteen candidates for the Ironwood City Commission. I invite everyone reading this editorial to breeze through the 25 election articles the Globe published to "educate" the public. They can be found at the About_Ironwood website. How many of the fifteen candidates are discussed in those 25 articles? Were all fifteen candidates treated fairly and equally by the Globe? Was it clear who the paper endorsed and who they didn't? How deeply did the Globe probe into the candidates lives? Was it done equally? Was there any bias in their reporting?

The day after I handed in my questionnaire, I ran into IPSD Director Bob Erspamer on the street. He told me that Margaret Levra (the Globe's most respected reporter) asked him, "What dirt can you give me on Jim Albert?" She never asked for background checks on the other fourteen candidates. She didn't mention any other candidate at all. She was out to damage my reputation. It's that simple.

Did the Globe do a good job reporting? Or did they do their best to fix the election? I'll be the first to admit, I'm no writer. But you do have one promise from me. When I write an article for the Chronicle, I try to be as honest and unbiased as possible. When I write an opinion column it will clearly be labeled "OPINION" or "EDITORIAL" and I will sign my name to it.

Does the Globe deserve to be honored? Not by a long shot! The Ironwood Daily Globe will twist the truth, hide the facts, and even outright lie to discredit those they don't agree with. Here is a fact that few people realize. Do you remember when Former City Commissioner Dan Adams and the Daily Globe kept repeating that Steve Frank and I were being disruptive during the Pledge of Allegiance? Ralph Ansami, the Daily Globe's own reporter, categorically denied that either of us were ever anything but respectful to the flag, the Pledge and the prayer. Because we are all media we are forced to sit right next to each other. If anyone would know, he would. Even though Karius was made aware that the "Pledge" allegation was totally fabricated, he still continued to print the lie. When I pointed out that the information the paper was using to verify my education was incomplete and inaccurate (wrong name, no social security number, wrong address, wrong graduation date and year), Margaret Levra continued to print articles that suggested I was lying. The Globe was unable to verify the information because they are incompetent. Good journalists? Or dishonest, disgraceful, embarrassments to the community? You decide.