Jim Denning
I’ll let you in on a secret, Steve Rose was never a journalist…
He was the publisher of an inherited neighborhood weekly his parents started that he successfully helped oversee as it prospered alongside the growth of Johnson County Kansas as it exploded into Kansas City’s largest, most affluent suburb.
What most local journos know is thatthat Rose’s Johnson County Sun was a pay-for-play rag with two forms of currency – cash and political favors and influence.
That’s not so much a criticism as an observation.
However most news consuming civilians are unfamiliar with the ethics of not mixing news coverage with advertising. They think that’s normal ( it’s not supposed to be).
Now here’s where, how and why Rose and the Kansas City Star went terribly wrong…
For starters, you have to understand how print journalism works (or is supposed to).Which most people – especially bloggers and social media upstarts – don’t.
Rule No. 1: You have to cover your you-know-what,
Which means, do your due diligence and fact check to confirm what you about write about or report on, to at least try and make sure it’s arguably true.
Pretty simple, really.
Short of the above, you need to attribute what you’re reporting on or writing about to whomever it is that’s alleging something to be true – even if it’s an unnamed source – then contact the aggrieved party to solicit their comment or reaction.
And while the writers, reporters and editors at our local newspaper of record have strayed greatly from those disciplines in recent years, it’s not like they don’t know better – because they do.
Which is why – according to what’s been written and reported about in this lawsuit alleging that Rose’s recent, controversial; Medicaid column defamed Kansas Rep. James Denning – appears to be a gigantic fuck up. And one that’s likely to be a very expensive one.
Mr. Johnson County?
I can’t recall the last time the Star found itself in this significant of a potentially, high dollar, embarrassing pickle. And while internally, the powers that be may try and blame it on limited resources owing the staff cutbacks of recent years, this is a “big ‘un.”
As the story goes, the column Rose originally submitted tom the Star bashing Kansas Republicans for not supporting Medicaid was reportedly little more than a blanket condemnation of conservatives with no attribution – no names named,
Which is something of a journalistic no-no, under the circumstances.
Thus a Star editor rightly came back to Rose wanting him to fill in the obvious blanks and identify who exactly it was that he was saying all these negative things about.
Next – from appearances, mind you – instead of killing the column as Rose undoubtedly should have, or making some calls and adding the guilty parties names into his story, he seems to have taken the lazy approach and just cocked back and dialed in Denning’s name…but based on what?
Not on having called him and being told those were Denning’s thoughts.
Some faint recollection of what Rose remembered he’d heard from what? Some third party?
It was a huge mistake that someone who’d actually been schooled in journalism and had to answer to editors for however many years would likely never have made.
Trouble is, it was in no way, shape or form, an innocent mistake.
Which makes this lawsuit proposition a really scary one.
Because attributing the kind of stupid sounding stuff Rose did to someone without contacting them or providing any supporting evidence or attribution was ridiculously unwise and risky. Not to mention, dumb.
In doing so, it got Rose off the hook for his deadline with his editors at the Star. Unfortunately though, it catapulted him into and the newspaper into a likely soon-to-probably-be very costly, difficult-to-defend trick box.
Worse yet, that Rose pleaded with Denning’s staff (in writing, no less) to let him off the hook by volunteering to resign from the Star doesn’t make him look wildly innocent.
Far from it.
And while Denning is clearly a public figure and open to public scrutiny and scorn, that doesn’t give Rose or the Star the right to carelessly and/or bogusly put words in his mouth.
And based on the email reaction Denning filed with his lawsuit, a clear case for petitioning for damages may well have been established.
The bottom line: Rose and the newspaper appear almost certain to have their day in court , but don’t count on it being a happy one.
Then again, as the saying goes, what goes around, comes around.
This concentrates on the fact that the newspaper and the writer got caught with their pants down for all to see. Boo hoo. But more troubling is that both the Star and Steve Rose are so ethically challenged that NOTHING the Star publishes now can be taken for the truth. It is not to be believed. Local government should quit publishing its legal ads in the Star because it is no longer a reputable newspaper of record.
That seems a little extreme, Lydia but that’s the way a number of people probably will think.
And not just because of this one instance
Rose started from a perceived viewpoint and was working backwards to try to find the justification for it. He had an ax to grind rather than a desire to observe and convey. Such people flock to the media, and they’re the worst people to be in it.
It was a ridiculously careless, risky thing to do – one that I’m sure Steve’s pounding his head for having made – and there thing is, he knew it. As evidenced by his instant offer to quit the Star if Denning would let him off the hook.
Trust me, Steve has treasured having a public podium. I seem to recall when the Sun tried to cut him back/off after he sold it? He barked like a wild dog and as I recall, even his former rivals Tom Leathers weighed in on his behalf.
“Worse yet, that Rose pleaded with Denning’s staff (in writing, no less) to let him off the hook by volunteering to resign from the Star doesn’t make him look wildly innocent.”
Oops.
75K is probably no big deal to a guy like Rose, but you have to wonder at the lack of vision in the clutch here. How about a personal, unexpected visit to Denning where you are not recorded, off of the record, to negotiate, what is apparently, a big problem. What ever happened to making sure you had “Plausible Deniability” in case the issue goes South? Rose must have been in a parasympathetic panic.
Steve is a RINO for sure, but, as I understand it, unlike many born into the lace, he served in Nam. I hope this works out ok for all concerned.
Forget the $75,000 figure, Chuck…
I guarantee you if Steve and/or the Star could get off this hook for a quick 75K, they’d jump on it.
Really?
I’m confused (That happens frequently.). I thought the suit was for 75K????
Noop, that’s just the way lawsuits are filed, Chuck.
Trust me, they’ll be shooting for a lot more than 75 large on this baby
Steve Rose was never a journalist…
Damn what happened to you Hearne, I am agreeing with you to often.
I had the pleasure of knowing Stan Rose as a child and latter as an adult. As a child I made a few pennies to spend on silly things delivering the Sun back in the day. And yes got the meet Stan and Shirley a few times when doing that. Later on in life as an adult Stan and my paths crossed several times and he always remembered my name and I always liked our little get togethers. But Steve, wow talk about being the complete opposite of Stan. Sadly my two times sharing a small space with Steve were far from pleasant. In fact they were awful, as Steve strutted around with his condescending attitude towards me. Some say Steve ruined the Sun his family’s paper but in all reality would the paper even been relevant or alive today with times changing as they have. Stan was a smart man in my opinion, but I think in today’s world even he would have been able to see what was coming and sold the ship prior to it sinking and not after it had begun to sunk.
To me, it’s time for Steve to get served a huge piece of Humble pie. But then what do I know.
Super Dave- I think your take on Citizen Rose is on the mark. He is a bright and well informed analyst and commentator. No one understands local politics like he does but he was brought down by a fatal flaw,i.e.overweening pride,what the Greeks called hubris. I’d like to say I take no pleasure in his downfall but he’ s ruined so many people’s careers I’d be lying if I did.There is a scene in the classic drama’Man For All Seasons’ where St. Thomas More tells his betrayer that it’s not worth losing your soul for the whole world. He adds”But for Wales, Richard ? For Wales?” To Rose I say, “For McClatchy,Steve? For McClatchy?”
Gotta hand it to you, Dwight…
For a very classy vivisection – forgive my use of the word “classy”