ABSTRACT: In the November 27, 2009 edition of The Carmel Pine Cone, owner/publisher/editor Paul Miller published a letter to the editor by Victoria McMillan, Carmel Valley. Highlights of McMillan’s letter are presented. A COMMENT is made and an ADDENDUM with links to Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism Principles of Journalism, American Society of Newspaper Editor’s Statement of Principles and Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics is provided. Importantly, as the ASNE’s Statement of Principles states: “These principles are intended to preserve, protect and strengthen the bond of trust and respect between American journalists and the American people, a bond that is essential to sustain the grant of freedom entrusted to both by the nation's founders.”
Highlights of Victoria McMillan’s Letter to the Editor:
• “I understand newspapers, and I would argue that the Carmel Pine Cone is not a real newspaper but more of a public platform which your editor uses to espouse his own opinions, personal gripes and personal vendettas.”
• “But it [small town newspaper] doesn’t or can’t tackle real news or real issues. I am guessing you don’t really even want to. You like drama, controversy and intrigue. You don’t sell your paper to the reader, so real reporting probably doesn’t really matter. However, it would be nice to think you had either a decent moral compass or at least a true respect for real journalism. You are mean-spirited and vindictive in your writings, and it doesn’t do a struggling paper any favors.”
• “The Carmel Pine Cone did little to no true investigative or thorough research, and it showed.”
• “No one knows what your beef really is...Do your sales reps a favor and build a newspaper that can earn some respect or at least have a reputation for balanced reporting.”
(Source: Pine Cone is really, really bad, Victoria McMillan, Carmel Valley, Letters to the Editor, The Carmel Pine Cone, November 27, 2009, 36A)
COMMENT:
• Under owner/publisher/editor Paul Miller, news articles in The Carmel Pine Cone read more like editorials and less like objective, fact-based news reporting and editorials are too often inflammatory, not informative. Moreover, The Carmel Pine Cone has a record of not being an “independent monitor of power” of our local government; in fact, The Carmel Pine Cone has a record of being a propaganda purveyor for Mayor Sue McCloud, City Council, et al. Unless and until readers demand Paul Miller and writers at The Carmel Pine Cone adhere to the principles of journalism, readers will continue to read biased and misleading news articles and inflammatory and unsubstantiated editorial commentaries.
ADDENDUM:
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism
Principles of Journalism
1. JOURNALISM'S FIRST OBLIGATION IS TO THE TRUTH
2. ITS FIRST LOYALTY IS TO CITIZENS
3. ITS ESSENCE IS A DISCIPLINE OF VERIFICATION
4. ITS PRACTITIONERS MUST MAINTAIN AN INDEPENDENCE FROM THOSE THEY COVER
5. IT MUST SERVE AS AN INDEPENDENT MONITOR OF POWER
6. IT MUST PROVIDE A FORUM FOR PUBLIC CRITICISM AND COMPROMISE
7. IT MUST STRIVE TO MAKE THE SIGNIFICANT INTERESTING AND RELEVANT
8. IT MUST KEEP THE NEWS COMPREHENSIVE AND PROPORTIONAL
9. ITS PRACTITIONERS MUST BE ALLOWED TO EXERCISE THEIR PERSONAL CONSCIENCE
ASNE's Statement of Principles
ARTICLE I - Responsibility.
ARTICLE II - Freedom of the Press.
ARTICLE III - Independence.
ARTICLE IV - Truth and Accuracy.
ARTICLE V - Impartiality.
ARTICLE VI - Fair Play.
Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Minimize Harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.
Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.
2 comments:
Paul Miller's self-published autobiographical series in the Pine Cone tells readers a lot. For one thing, he is so self-obsessed, in making himself the story, he shows he does not much care about real news and real issues of importance today. For another thing, he has not editoralized critically on City Hall or Mayor Sue McCloud in all the years he has owned the Pine Cone. He writes as one of them, not one of us.
He has lost or had no moral compass. He writes as if it is his right to attack those he disagrees with and those with contrary views from the mayor and he does not even have the professional courtesy to give the other side their views and equal time before going to print.
No real news, no persuasive commentaries, and no real journalist in Paul Miller.
The editor of the Monterey County Weekly unintentionally printed a letter by Linda Anderson and later issued a correction, which is more than Paul Miller did when he purposely printed Victoria McMillan’s letter which he knew was a private communication and did not print a correction or public apology in The Carmel Pine Cone.
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