I just had the opportunity to read the Missoulian’s story on the ongoing rape crisis in Missoula. As unbelievably bad as the response from the University, Police Department, and city have been up to this point, the newly released e-mails reveal a culture hostile to women who reported rape and more interested in public relations than justice or even safety.

Heads need to roll. Not for the sake of UM’s reputation, not for the abstract pursuit of justice, but to ensure that Missoula is no longer a community that tolerates this kind of behavior from people entrusted with protecting public and student safety.

No one who believes that it’s appropriate to accuse rape victims of lying deserves to serve in a job committed to public safety. No one who believes it’s appropriate to punish a rape victim for having the courage to go public should serve in a position involved with students.

Huge credit to the Missoulian for investing the resources to get these e-mails. Read jhwygirl’s take over at 4and20blackbirds.

It seems I’ve upset Dustin Hurst from the Montana Watchdog. In a recent post, I criticized his work, pointing out its inaccuracies and ideological bias. The truth is that he’s not a journalist or a reporter, no matter what he calls himself. He’s somewhere between an unofficial spokesperson for the Montana Republican Party and and an ideological hack for rightwing ideology.

And that would be fine if Mr. Hurst wasn’t passing himself off as a reporter. He absolutely has the right to express his opinion. He has the right to author biased, inaccurate stories and try to make people believe they’re true. He just isn’t right to call what he does reporting.

And I have the right to call him out for his work.  That Mr. Hurst, an employee of a secretly-funded “media” organization, would have the temerity to suggest that I am carrying water for a political candidate’s “threats” is as astonishing as his lack of objectivity and perspective about what a threat is. I’m a teacher who writes a blog in his spare time, without any promise of remuneration or help from anyone. In fact, I have received little of either in the seven years I have been writing.

Reporters are supposed to objectively examine stories and provide their audience with the information they need to make informed choices. Mr. Hurst, seemingly driven by an immense self-regard and affinity for conservative politics, offers  slanted coverage designed to denigrate Democrats, public employees, and liberals, all while ignoring the obvious failures, hypocrisy and foibles of the right. He even distorts the truth to make his arguments.

In my mind, these corporately-funded pseudo-journalists are worse than the deluge of corporate advertisements that have proliferated in the wake of the Citizens United decision. It’s clear these organizations intend to set themselves up as alternative news sources designed to trick readers into believing they are receiving unbiased news. If the future of local news is Fox-style propaganda couched in journalistic terms, we’re all worse off.

That kind of dishonesty needs to be exposed. If it upsets Mr. Hurst to be called out for his practices, I suggest a simple remedy: fix them. Either become a journalist or admit you’re not one.

Huge kudos to the Montana Standard for uncovering a Post Office document “through other means”–a document which reveals that the Postal Service lied to the people of Butte about the impact of closing the Butte mail processing center.

Specifically,

• while the Post Office claimed the closure would only cost 6-7 jobs, their own documents revealed that 21 jobs would be lost.
• while the Post Office claimed the move was to create cost-savings, they failed to report that the move to Great Falls would cost over $350,000 initially, not to mention long-term costs associated with transportation.
• The Post Office refused to provide information following a Freedom of Information request because they do not “release the contents of AMP studies because of the proprietary nature of the information.”

The same corporate culture at the Post Office that justifies exorbitant salaries for clearly incompetent CEOs seems to also being endorsing the idea that “proprietary” corporate information trumps the critical importance of open government. The Post Office can’t be corporate when it’s convenient and government when it’s expedient; they are a public trust that needs to behave much better than they have.

And that’s why the work Senator Tester is doing to protect postal service in Montana is so important. His work in the Senate, along with Senators Wyden and Merkley, will give the public enough time to find out just how dishonest the Postal Service has been during this process, not to mention what other “proprietary” secrets might reveal about their decision-making.

As for Republicans in the House, like Representative Rehberg, who created the problem? Their bill doesn’t protect small post offices or prevent rash closures:

The bill still has to be approved by the House, which is far from a sure thing. The House of Representatives bill on the matter is much different, and does not include language that would keep the Butte center open.

How about it, Representative Rehberg? Why not stand up to your leadership and protect Montana jobs and mail service?

I must admit that I am not a highly compensated member of a corporate board nor an expert in executive compensation, but I have to assume that Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck is due for another half million dollar bonus after these stellar results in the second fiscal quarter:

Operating revenue for the quarter totaled $172.3 million, a decrease of 3.6% compared with a year ago. Combined print and digital advertising revenue decreased 5.3% to $117.5 million, with retail advertising down 3.5%, classified down 7.1% and national down 9.7%. Combined print and digital classified employment revenue decreased 0.3%, while automotive decreased 3.9%, real estate decreased 12.2% and other classified decreased 11.5%. Digital advertising revenue on a stand-alone basis increased 9.9% to $15.7 million. Print revenue on a stand-alone basis decreased 7.3%. Circulation revenue increased 0.1%.

Overall, as the Washington Post reports, Lee lost 54 cents per share in the quarter for a total of 26.6 million dollars:

The company said it lost $26.6 million, or 54 cents per share, for the fiscal second quarter that ended March 25. That compares with a loss of $1.5 million, or 3 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.

Lest anyone forget, Lee’s CEO Mary Junck took a bonus of $500,000 during a quarter when the company she leads lost $26 million dollars.

Optimistic press releases about evolving “in the digital age” notwithstanding, the corporate raid on Lee’s profitable small newspapers continues, as readers and advertisers are fleeing a product that lacks the resources to produce consistent quality. Lee’s failed strategy and corporate piracy are stripping these local papers of their most valued commodity: local belief that the newspaper will offer complete and comprehensive coverage.

One has to love the dispassionate tone of corporate press releases, especially when it relates to actual human beings losing their jobs. From the press release:

Compensation decreased 5.2%, with the average number of full-time equivalent employees down 7.5%.

That’s 7 per cent fewer people collecting, editing, producing, and distributing the news that is vital to many communities only served by one newspaper.

I derive no pleasure from watching the decline of newspapers—it’s certainly a tough environment when a company with no revenue is worth more than the New York Times—but the mismanagement and theft from local newspapers by the Lee chain is especially galling. People who work for their papers and the communities those papers serve deserve better.

This morning I woke up to the news of Robin Pflugrad and Jim O’Day’s dismissal from UM’s athletic program. While I was not surprised that these two men were asked to leave presumably because of their involvement in the recent sexual assault scandal involving members of the football team, I am shocked to see the manner in which the Missoulian presented the reception of the news within the Griz community.

Bill Speltz’s article, published under the headlines “Griz football program in limbo following firing of O’Day, Pflugrad” and “Griz left shocked, wondering why” on the Missoulian and Independent Record websites, respectively, seems to console the wrong parties. The article uses the words “unsettling,” “bombshell,” and “heartfelt” within the first 250 words that describe the difficulties of switching coaches in the middle of spring training. The article states that the football program needs to “rebound from its current predicament,” depicting the UM football community as being in a state of total shock after losing competent and well-respected leaders. In contrast, the Missoulian‘s initial article on the alleged UM sexual assaults that appeared on December 16, 2011 is written in a dry professional tone, free from the emotional rhetoric present in today’s article.

While I’ll be the first to admit that I can’t speak to the quality of Pflugrad and O’Day’s coaching and leadership abilities, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were both proficient in their jobs as they relate to athletics. I don’t doubt for a second that they will be missed by players and fans alike. But Speltz’s article highlights the emotional stress that the football community is currently undergoing, while sidelining the real victims: the survivors of sexual assault. Their stress and ostracism will no doubt increase with the outpouring of support for the coach and athletic director who mismanaged the handling of the sexual assault allegations. Speltz’s article will probably be the way most people find out about Pflugrad and O’Day’s dismissal, and thus has tremendous power in forming public opinion on the scandal. By framing it in such ways that stresses the problems for fans and athletes, Speltz excludes the ongoing problems for those people who are still dealing with the trauma of sexual assault.

Pflugrad and O’Day’s role in the recent sexual assault allegations at UM resonate with an article published in the National Catholic Register a few days ago about the rampant protection of football players by Notre Dame officials from allegations of sexual assault. First-year student Lizzy Seeberg committed suicide in August of 2010 after school authorities shielded a football player from police inquiry and failed to proceed with an internal investigation of her sexual assault. Notre Dame and the University of Montana aren’t the only schools that protect their star athletes from legal ramifications, but are emblematic of a larger problem. I bring up Lizzy Seeberg’s story because Melinda Henneberger’s thorough investigation reveals the ugly underbelly of a university when confronted with a crime seemingly perpetrated by a beloved athlete. I can only wait in dread of the details that emerge as the UM investigations unfold.

I hope that today’s events are the first step in changing how UM- and by extension, all colleges and universities- treat allegations of sexual assault, especially involving student athletes. When institutions of higher learning protect their athletes from legal scrutiny, they send a message to their students and communities that the alumni-rallying money machine of athletics is more important than the physical safety of their students. The Missoulian‘s coverage, among other things, only helps support this message.

The Helena Independent Record is finally reporting today that the paper is laying off two workers and relocating two more. Publisher Randy Rickman, who unfortunately will not be among those relocated, blamed the decision on a “continued soft economy,” which would be a more compelling argument had his paper not argued the exact opposite about the economy in the past few days.

It’s certainly an interesting claim, given that the Independent Record ran a story today indicating that the U.S. economy grew 3 per cent last year and another saying that jobless claims fell to their lowest level in four years. Don’t think the good news is limited to the national scene? Well, twelve days ago, the IR ran an editorial discussing the good news about the healthy economy in Lewis and Clark County.

That line about a “soft economy” is also contradicted by the Independent Record’s corporate owners at Lee Enterprises, who told stockholders that the future is bright for revenue in the company:

Lee chairman and CEO Mary Junck told a group of nearly 60 that the successful refinancing of its long-term debt in January will give the company “a nearly four-year runway for improving our balance sheet.”
But she said the outlook remains positive given the company’s “unmatched strength” in its daily newspaper markets and the “breathtaking” growth Lee’s digital products have seen in mobile and tablet usage.

And Ms. Junck’s future certainly is brighter than that of those laid off yesterday. The soft economy doesn’t seem to be a problem when it comes to handing out three-quarters of a million dollars to two Lee Executives, including Ms. Junck. While $750,000 might only buy 750,000 thousand shares of the company’s “Junck” stock, it would have kept dozens of workers in their jobs during a slow economic time.

I’ve been as vocal a critic of local news coverage as anyone, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that what’s going on at newspapers across the country and here in Montana is nothing more than the work of corporate raiders who are stripping these newspapers of vital resources in the pursuit of profit. Worse yet, they’re stripping the papers, many of which have decades of established reputation, of their credibility as news gathering agencies in their communities. Once these corporate raiders leave, it’s hard to imagine that much will remain.

And that’s  damn shame—for the people who love reading the news and those who have given their lives to recording it.

KXLH is reporting that the Independent Record has laid off yet another round of workers:

The Helena Independent Record has laid off a handful of employees.

Staff members have confirmed that some positions have been entirely eliminated while others are being offered relocation packages.

But don’t worry, fans of American corporations and corporate malfeasance. The woman whose incredibly bad decisions have gutted the IR’s parent company Lee Enterprises, won’t be suffering, as the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported today:

Getting Lee Enterprises through bankruptcy earned a $500,000 bonus for Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck, according to a new company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The compensation committee of Lee’s board of directors awarded the bonus to Junck, along with a $250,000 bonus to chief financial officer Carl Schmidt.

That’s an impressive display of American capitalism right there. Junck drove the formerly healthy company into bankruptcy through her mismanagement before getting a cool half million dollars for “getting” the company through her failure.

I can’t even imagine what another round of cuts will look like at the Independent Record, which is becoming a shell of a newspaper, despite making a profit on its own. It’s pretty tough to put out a quality product when you don’t have enough staff to do the job and now it appears they IR will have even fewer hands on deck.

Highlighting some of the most interesting and provocative posts in the past week at Montana blogs.

MT Cowgirl read and reviewed gubernatorial candidate Neil Livingstone’s chapter on procuring a sex worker in a foreign country or large American city.

4and20 blackbirds had a more national focus this week, offering up posts about the continued failure –in human and moral terms—of the war in Afghanistan and selling American citizenship to the wealthy.

David Parker, at Big Sky Political Analysis, floated the idea that cutting Congressional pay might actually do more harm than good.

D. Gregory Smith continued to put a critical light on the actions of a certain e-mailing Montana judge.

Over here, we took a look at the Republican candidates for Auditor, Secretary of State, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, got into a fight with a homophobic legislator, and pointed out that even Steve Daines knows Dennis Rehberg is wrong about Montana’s border with Canada.

Today in Mike Dennison’s story about how the two major candidates for the US Senate have voted, we got an instructive lesson in how headlines can shape perceptions of a story. The Independent Record certainly offered a unique take on a story that largely argued that Dennis Rehberg votes with Republicans and Jon Tester votes with Democrats. Shocking stuff.

• From the Missoulian, U.S. Senate race: How often do Rehberg, Tester vote with the president?
• From the Billings Gazette, Tester voting record on Obama policies takes center stage in race with Rehberg
• From the Independent Record, Tester follows party lines

I guess supporting the ideological viewpoint of the publisher is more important than writing a headline that is either accurate or even logical.

Highlighting some of the most interesting and provocative posts in the past week at Montana blogs.

It’s hard not to love this story at the Button Valley Bugle about the efforts of the good legislators in Wyoming to protect the state in the event of a nuclear holocaust or zombie attack. Hell, they’re even willing to consider purchasing an aircraft carrier.

Pete Talbot makes the case for someone taking the responsibility to ensure that the Bakken boom is handled sustainably and responsibly as potential exploration sites across the state grow.

Montana Cowgirl took a look at the staggering incompetence of the TEA Party-led county commission “leading” Ravalli County.

D Gregory Smith wondered why Dennis Rehberg seems far to busy to meet with his constituents but has the time to cultivate secretive donations for his campaign. Perhaps he was too busy making jokes about drunks on the water.

Rob Natelson over at the Electric City weblog offered another example of what passes for conservative jurisprudence these days in his effort to defend the Citizens United  decision. This passage is just too good to be believed. Natelson writes, “right now, citizens who use the corporate form have their First Amendment rights back.”  I wonder if citizens using the canine form will soon have the right to express their rights as well.

The Montanafesto blog outed Yellowstone County Republican chair and sometimes TEA Party activist Jennifer Olsen as another anonymous online troll.

jhwygirl offered her own dissent to the Supreme Court’s decision in PPL v Montana, writing that now, “if you can’t float a boat, it’s up for sale to the highest bidder.”

Over here, we looked at Corey Stapleton’s shady campaign finance and Representative Rehberg’s inability to raise money from Montanans.

Have a great week everyone.