Getting The Brush-off: Is My Hometown Paper Taking Lessons From The Media Big Boys??

By Gloria R. Lalumia
Dateline: New Mexico, May 8, 2002

It all started Saturday/early Sunday (May 4/5) over at the Democratic Underground site and BuzzFlash. A poster to DU had provided a link on Saturday to a press release from Earth Justice about an EPA memo that had been issued late Friday. And you may have noticed the headline that appeared Saturday at BuzzFlash which read "Bush Administration Approves Most Damaging Change to Clean Water Act in Decades 5/5" which also linked to the release.

Since Christie Whitman apparently signed an order to allow dumping of coal mine waste into waterways late on Friday to avoid scrutiny from the media, I didn't expect to see a story in my local paper on Saturday. But since the city of Las Cruces is now at the start of a Super Fund cleanup of a solvent that has entered the water supply, I figured that this story would interest our community. There has been good coverage of that story and Saturday's edition even carried a short article on air quality in the county. And there are always stories about the water and drought problems in the area and the fights between Texas and New Mexico over Rio Grande water. I began wondering how Whitman's change would affect the mining interests in New Mexico and if we would start to see dumping here and how that might affect the state's precious water supply. So it didn't seem too far-fetched to figure a story on the rule change would appear in the Sunday edition, for sure.

Nope. Not a word. So I decided that calling the paper would be my Sunday project.

Day 1 -- Sunday

First, some background. The Sun-News is part of a chain of papers under single ownership, which covers the entire southern section of New Mexico and an area up in the 4 Corners region. The paper serves the second largest city in the state and picks up news from El Paso that affects the area. The owners have imported an editor from New York and we get regular reports on how the paper is being improved. One thing is certain, Sports always rates its own section, no matter what. Some things never change!

If you look up the Las Cruces Sun-News in the phone directory, there's a list of numbers for the Business Office, Advertising, Classified Advertising, Circulation, News Tips, Sports Tips, and Sound Off (where people too lazy to write a letter to the editor can call to deliver some of the silliest comments you'd ever want to read). Logic told me that calling the "News Tips" number would be the way to reach the news staff. As it turned out, calling any number except for Sound Off connected me to a taped message that told me the hours of the paper are from Monday thru Friday and informed me that I could leave a message at the News desk. Not true. When I called the number that was given, there was no way to leave a message.

I called at 6:45 AM, 9:30, and noon on Sunday. No one there, anywhere.

In the meantime, I collected some web links that I could offer the reporting staff. Aside from 2 links to the press release, I scrounged up a link to MSNBC with an AP story from April 30 which described changes to the Clean Water Act that were being "considered" and another to an op/ed piece from the May 4 edition of the New York Times. A quick search of the AP site came up with nothing on Whitman's Friday action.

At 6 PM, I called the paper again and got a human being!! It was Donny, a copy editor, who sounded half asleep from allergies. I asked when the staff usually showed up and he said reporters were "around" during the day and the copy editing staff started drifting in between 3 and 5 PM. He admitted he had just gotten in-at 6 PM. First, I told him that I hadn't been able to leave a message for the News desk, even though the tape on the main number said I could. "Yeah, well, I know, what about that?" replied Donny with a chuckle. Not too encouraged by this laid-back response, I launched into my spiel on how the community would be interested in this hidden EPA story. But Donny couldn't say anything but "Wow," "Gee," and "Mmm." So I asked him the name of a contact. Well, it was the Editor who decided everything and he wouldn't be in until later and he was always really busy. I took the hint that it wouldn't be easy to actually speak to the Editor. So I asked for his email address because I could see I was hitting a brick wall already and the evening was young.

Instead of wasting time waiting to try another call, I decided to take action. I composed a letter, full of praise for the Las Cruces Sun-News, packed with documentation in the form of the web links I had collected, and a bit of "concerned citizen outrage" and a plea for help:

Dear Mr. Rosenthal:

I am writing to you because I've always thought the Sun-News has covered
environmental issues well. I thought I should alert you to a major story that has been buried by the Administration. Since Las Cruces is sitting on a Super Fund site involving tainted water, I found this story to be alarming.

On Friday, May 3rd, late in the day, EPA head Christie Whitman apparently signed an order permitting the dumping of mining waste into streams. Prior to this, on April 30, an AP story had outlined what actions were being "considered." I found a link to this story at:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/745535.asp

The next thing I found was a story/news release reporting that, indeed, the deed was done! I found the information on the internet, but not through the AP or other sources. Frankly, it was like this had never happened!! The following two URLs are the same press release issued by an environmental law group which outlines the possible ramifications of this reversal:

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/display.html?ID=365
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/first/0503-144.html

Finally, I found an op/Ed piece at the NY Times on this issue: (URL below)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/04/opinion/_04SAT2.html

Frankly, Mr. Rosenthal, I am not sure how the change in this law, done so surreptitiously, will affect areas all over the country. But I would like to find out! NM has mining interests and I am concerned that wholesale dumping of waste could turn up in our streams, rivers, and, ultimately, our drinking water.

Won't you please delve into this and see if there are ANY stories on the subject that have been written by the AP, Reuters, or a major news organization in the country?

As a citizen, I believe the secrecy and underhanded tactics displayed by Christie Whitman (who used to be my governor when I lived in NJ) in signing this order are not to be tolerated. The silence in the media has been deafening!

Sincerely,
Gloria R. Lalumia
Las Cruces, NM

Meanwhile, as the email wended its way through cyberspace to the office about 3 miles down the road, I got a call from the New York Times!!

Or rather, a guy try selling me a subscription…But this was no college kid sitting in a cubicle at a call center in Orlando. No, this guy was an honest-to-God New Yorker. As a Jersey Girl, I could tell right away he was the real thing-just imagine a friendlier version of Michael Savage.

I told him I was in New Mexico and didn't need the Times and when he tried to suggest that I could still enjoy the Sunday edition, I told him I linked to certain articles from sites on the web like BuzzFlash and that served me quite well. This piqued his interest and he wanted to know what I was reading. I told him it was political stuff and I was not entirely happy with the Times' coverage. He asked me why. I mumbled something about not wanting to get into politics, but he countered that he would gladly tell me where he was coming from politically. I didn't ask-after all, the call might have been monitored by the thought police.

I wasn't really prepared to comment on the editorial page in detail, so I pulled out the most obvious example of why I was losing hope for the Times. "Richard Berke-every time he writes a story about Al Gore, there's a bias, a dig. He doesn't stick to the facts; it's not good journalism. On the Internet, he's lovingly referred to as Berke the Jerk."

"Hey, next time I see him, I'll tell him!" he exclaimed. I told he him he should definitely do that and he signed off with "Thanks for telling me, I'm going to look into his stories! Have a good night!"

The thought of the possibility, however slim, of someone calling Berke a jerk to his face gave me more satisfaction than I've had in ages! And all thanks to a New York Times telemarketer!

Day 2 -- Monday

Meanwhile, nothing had happened with the Sun-News. On Monday, there was no story and each time I checked my email, there was no reply from the Editor. Finally, at 9 PM I made another call and reached Donny again. Donny sounded a lot better, I'm happy to report. But he knew nothing about the story or my email and it turns out, the Editor was not there. In fact, Donny told me he was there from 9 to about 5 or 6. When I joked that instead of putting the paper to bed, he was working "banker's hours," Donny nervously offered, "He's the big guy!"

Day 3 -- Tuesday

I called about 1 PM and actually reached a live operator. When I asked for the News desk and the Editor, she told me that "Jim" was out for the day. Since I don't count myself as one of "Jim's" personal friends, I had to confirm that she was referring to James Rosenthal. Getting frustrated I asked if I could leave a message and gave a brief summary of my concerns about dumping. The operator actually seemed to recognize what I was talking about, so my mood brightened. She told me he usually got in between 9:30 and 10 AM and that he definitely would be in the next day. Later, I decided that she really didn't have clue a about what I had called about and she was just being cheerful and friendly because that was her job. I felt deflated.

Day 4--Wednesday

A new day and brimming with hope, I called at 10:02 AM and got a person in the News room named Martha. I politely said that I was following up on an email I had sent to the Editor. She said she didn't have any idea of where it might be but sending it was "the proper thing to do." I briefly summed up my concerns, mentioning the order that that been signed late in the day, almost "snuck in," and she jumped on me. "Snuck in? Where was it signed?" "Washington,"" I said. "Well, we don't have the staff to cover stories in Washington. We look for wire stories." I explained that I had provided links including one to an AP story on April 30. Martha was getting huffy. Was this a letter to the editor? "No, I want to find out more about this ruling before I write a letter to the editor," I chuckled, trying to appear pleasantly naïve and in need of her professional help. I continued that I thought it might be a story that would interest the community since we have mining interests in this state and a water problem and I was wondering what the ramifications might be-I volunteered that even though it involves coal mining in W. Virginia directly, this is the first major change in the Clean Water Act since the Nixon Administration.

Well, Martha was clearly not moved by my concerned citizen approach. She got testy and she started to cut me off! "Wait, wait," I heard myself pleading. "I can check to see if the email was received," she snapped and I rushed to say "There IS a phone number and email address-just so it can be acknowledged, " I trailed off, just as she hung up!! I had wanted to ask why there were no stories on the latest Enron revelations in California-but it was too late!!

Had I just experienced stonewalling on the local level?? It sure felt that way! After 3 days of trying to talk to someone, I had been rudely and testily dismissed!

Mmm-I tried to console myself that at least I had put up a good fight. Reflecting on the past few days, I realized that the high point of my crusade was my conversation with the sales guy from the New York Times. I couldn't help but wonder as I licked my wounds, did I ever have a chance? After all, the publisher of the Las Cruces Sun-News is named…. Bush.

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© 2002, Gloria R. Lalumia
insight@zianet.com

More Stuff at: http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical

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