Petition Wars

There’s a new twist in the ongoing saga of the Traverse City Record-Eagle and recent attempts to influence how it covers the news.
For the past few years, a former top county official, Ross Childs, has objected to the newspaper’s aggressive news coverage, which he believes is biased, mean-spirited, and harms the community. To put pressure on the paper, he collected more than 875 signatures of people who agree with him, compiled 30 letters, analyzed eight articles, and in early July, sent off a 385-page report to the board chairman of Dow Jones & Co., which owns Ottaway Newspapers, which owns the Record-Eagle.
Yet now there is a petition drive from people who feel quite the opposite and consider this a free speech issue. Compiling copies of the petitions and letters is Ken Smith, executive director of NMEAC (Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council).
“Childs and his little cabal of people are up in arms about the Record-Eagle, and these are the very same people whose questionable performance and behavior have been brought to light by the Record-Eagle,” Smith said. “They didn’t have to do it this way. He could have asked Northern Express to publish an article to explain his case, he could write a forum in the Record-Eagle, he could take out TV ads, but he decided to slither around the back door and kill the messenger, namely the editor, Bill Thomas, and others on the editorial board. I doubt whether the information they sent is discoverable. It’s cowardly. … At NMEAC, we are pleased that the Record-Eagle is finally doing some investigative reporting. They’ve done a lot of reporting on toxic waste issues, contamination issues,
they broke the story on the East Bay
township clerk.”

‘NOT INVOLVED’
In a widely circulated email, Michael Estes asked supporters to write a letter to Dow Jones or to sign a petition. Adding a new wrinkle to the story, he also wrote that state Senator Jason Allen teamed up with Childs “in an attempt to muzzle Free Speech by demanding the resignation of Record Eagle editors who have challenged their ‘good Old boy network.’”
Estes said he cannot prove that Allen—a frequent target of the Record-Eagle—was actually involved. “I think the appropriate question to ask Jason is, do you think Ross is on the right track. Or do you think free speech should prevail?”
Estes acknowledged that he ran against Allen four years ago and lost. He pointed out that the Record-Eagle endorsed Allen for state senator.
A spokesman for Allen said that he is definitely not involved in Childs’ attempt.
“We are not in any way associated with what he’s doing … This is Ross Childs, as an irate private citizen, doing his own thing,” said Jamie Callahan, Allen’s
chief of staff.
Senator Allen sent the following email in response to a question about his stance on Childs’ effort: “One of the many great things about living in America is freedom.  This includes freedom of the press, but, also, freedom to be critical of the press. Ross Childs is exercising his freedom to question the newspaper -- along with those that signed on to his petition -- and has every right to do so.  Conversely, those that have chosen respond to Mr. Childs with their own drive in support of the paper share that same right and freedom as Mr. Childs.  This is democracy at work. It is also my understanding that Mr. Childs may be a stockholder of the corporation that owns the newspaper, thus giving him additional rights to bring grievances before the company’s board of directors on the direction of the company which he holds stock.”
Last spring, Childs contacted former Governor John Engler and Peter McPherson, former MSU president, who are both board members of Dow Jones, to help him get the ear of the Dow board chairman.

ARROGANT...
Also involved in the petition drive are Ann Rogers, a former Traverse City commissioner, attorney Paul Bare, and former Traverse City Mayor Margaret Dodd, who wrote the petition language.
“I don’t even have a word for what Ross Childs is doing. I use the word, ‘arrogant,’ and that is probably as close as I can get,” said Dodd, who put a sign on her car in support of free speech and the Record-Eagle.
Ann Rogers said that the newspaper has opened up local government and given citizens a sense of involvement. “I don’t always agree with the Record-Eagle on everything, but this smacks of censorship to me. If they are publishing lies, why doesn’t Ross Childs sue them?”
Estes said that his issue is freedom of the press. “A lot of people think the paper goes too far on a particular issue, and I would contend they went too far on the college. But the paper is making an impact and they’re truly shaking the foundations of what exists in this community. Everyone who thought they could go undetected know now that if it’s public business, it’s really public.”
Dodd has called newspapers around the state, trying to get them to do a story, which she says has more than local significance. “I told the editor of the Detroit Free Press that this was a first amendment issue, this attempt to muzzle the content and get rid of the editor, and it could equally be happening to him.”
Smith said he hopes to collect 2,000 signatures by the end of August.
Childs said the defeat of the proposed parking deck, which he supported, has not reinvigorated his group.
There were obviously intense feelings about the paper’s negative coverage on the issue, however. A Record-Eagle reporter was ejected from a post-election party, someone yelled an obscenity, and the CEO of the development company implied that he would take legal action. “I was at the party, but I was standing in a corner when it happened,” said Childs, adding that he’s now waiting for Peter Kann, chairman of the Dow board, to respond to his 385-page report. He expects to hear from him in September. He said previously that his group have planned to explore other options if the Record Eagle refuses to become a more fair and accurate paper.
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