Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Whenever I refer to news reports written by Howard Fischer, I will always use the original version of his reports that are reported in the East Valley Tribune or other newspapers that subscribe to his service.
I will not use the condensed "Reader's Digest" version (no offense intended to Reader's Digest, I'm a fan) at the Arizona Daily Star where the editors engage in highly selective editing that often strips Howard's reporting of the substantive points that he wanted to make. If I were Howard, I'd be pissed.
An illustrative example of this selective editing at the Star is today's report by Howard Fischer, Legislators play blame game after prison break – East Valley Tribune (the highlighted portions below are the selective edits made by the Arizona Daily Star):
State lawmakers traded charges Wednesday of whose administration is to blame for the escape of three dangerous inmates from a private prison and the two subsequent deaths linked to them.
Democrats led the charge, using [used] the three-day special session on altering the [a state]Arizona Constitution to insert an anti-union provision to say lawmakers should instead be focusing their attention on how the inmates managed to cut their way through the fence of a Kingman facility. [make the point that lawmakers should be focusing their attention on how the inmates managed to cut their way through the fence of a Kingman facility.] Two have since been captured, but not before the escapees were linked to the killing of an Oklahoma couple in New Mexico.
Reports are the third escapee and a female accomplice may be in Montana or even Arkansas.
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said any legislative inquiry is premature. He said the state Department of Corrections is still investigating.
Those calls for patience drew derision from Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix.
“When is the right time?’’ he asked. “Do we need more dead people?’’
Rep. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson, said the focus should be on why the convicts, two of whom were serving time on a murder charge, were in a privately run medium security prison. She said answers need to be provided by Gov. Jan Brewer and Charles Ryan, her choice to head the Department of Corrections.
“What we’re asking for is leadership,’’ she said.
“We’re asking for a hearing and we’re asking for an investigation as to how is it that lifers and violent criminals can be in a medium security prison, in a private prison, with guards who have no weapons,’’ Aboud continued. “What is this legislature and this governor doing about it?’’
Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, said Brewer has been “running around the state’’ campaigning for office “or trying to jump on TV to talk about other issues.’’ Brewer has gotten a great deal of national media attention over the state’s new immigration law and the legal fight surrounding it.
“People have been kidnapped, people have been killed as the result of this,’’ Patterson said.
“As far as I can tell, the governor has done nothing to address it,’’ he continued. “We are in a crisis of failed leadership.’’
But Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu, said if Democrats are unhappy about where murderers are being housed they should blame [former Gov.] Janet Napolitano, Brewer’s predecessor, and Dora Schriro who was Napolitano’s [her] corrections chief. He said they were the ones who [because they] instituted the current system of how inmates are classified based “on their attitudes, not on their potential for violence.’’ [to determine where they should be placed.]
“The private prison does not rate the prisoners,’’ Gould explained. “The Department of Corrections rates those prisoners.’’
[But even as he directed blame at Napolitano,] Gould said, though, [acknowledged] there probably were failures in security at the Kingman facility. And he said hearings are necessary.
But he said the reason the murderers were in that Kingman facility in the first place is “bad policy by Gov. Napolitano.’’
The Department of Corrections says nearly 2,700 inmates convicted of murder are in medium security prisons. That specifically includes 796 inmates who were sentenced to life behind bars, with no possibility of parole, meaning they have no possibility of ever getting out and cannot be punished further other than losing privileges.
Ryan, however, said there’s nothing wrong with that.
“It is consistent correctional practice around the country to house inmates sentenced to life in a medium security prison,’’ he said.
Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman gave a less direct response.
“So far the governor has not announced plans today to radically revamp the objective inmate classification system that was last overhauled in 2005,’’ he said.
In a report Wednesday, Ryan said the escape remains under investigation.
But he said it appears that Casslyn Welch, the accomplice, approached the outer fence of the prison and tossed them wire cutters which they used to cut through both the inner and outer fences.
Ryan said his office ordered Management and Training Corp., which runs the facility, to make several operational changes. That includes increasing perimeter patrols.
He also said MTC was ordered to have more “controlled movement’’ of medium security prisoners in the yard. Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson said that already was the policy of his agency for medium security inmates, a policy MTC was supposed to be following in the first place.
The Star's selective editing changed the tone and emphasis of substantive points Howard made in his original report. Don't try to tell me that this is because of column space and format constraints. There is plenty of crap the Star does publish that it could forgoe to publish Howard Fischer unedited.
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The Star doesn’t care about the people of Tucson only their little kingdom, which will come to an end in a couple of years when their huge balloon payment comes due for stuff bought. They will go belly up.
To:
From: Mikki Niemi niemicat@hotmail.com
Arizona Daily Star discriminates against people who don’t agree politically with the editors.
Fact: On November 3, I posted a letter from a candidate which was sent to me with instructions to forward to at least 10 people. I placed this in the comment sections of the online star. The letter was critical of Rio Nuevo and Trasoff. This letter had been paid for by the candidate for a campaign add and was published in the Star on November 2. Someone online complained about the post and I reposted it. Again this was taken off by readersOn the next day I could not post I received this from Debbie Kornmiller the Star’s “reader advocate”
Mikki:
Commenting privileges were removed from this account on Monday because posts reported for moderation were reposted. The reported posts were content that was not original in nature. When you post someone’s else’s published material you are violating their copyright, which has legal ramifications. You continue to have read privileges.
Debbie Kornmiller
Reader Advocate
I wrote a e-mail to her stating that I had permission to post this letter and it the copyright was transferred to me by the candidate she sent this email and took my wife off from commenting also. My wife had not made any comments for several weeks. But was taken off as punishment for what she perceived that I did.
My wife wrote several e-mails, she told them that I never commented on her sign in. Debbie Kornmiller wrote that Dorothy who had done nothing was taken off permanently because she refused to agree to rules that other people didn’t have to agree to.
Thank you for your patience. I’ve talked to my bosses about your request that commenting privileges be restored to your email account.
Please know that we rarely restore commenting privileges once that function has been removed.
We agreed that I would restore your commenting privileges with the provision that you not allow others to use your account and that your posts stay within our guidelines. Any breach would mean an automatic and permanent suspension. A third chance would be out of the question.
I need to hear back from you that you will abide by our guidelines, that you will not allow others to use your account and that you understand the consequences. At that time commenting privileges will be restored.
Debbie
This address as well as your yahoo and msn accounts no longer have commenting privileges. Posting copyrighted material is against the law. The ban is permanent.
Debbie
We protested to her boss John Bolton and this was his response.
I’m not inclined to overrule Ms. Kornmiller. She keeps a close eye on the reader comment moderation and is tasked with enforcing the guidelines on a consistent basis, and I see nothing to suggest a different outcome is warranted.
John Bolton, online editor
I then wrote to the publisher John Humenik requesting a face to face meeting with all three of them and this was his answer.
Mr. Niemi,
I’m sorry. That will not be possible.
John
I then wrote to the CEO of the Star Mike Jameson and this was his response.
I wrote to Kornmiller and showed her that under her rules for having permission to post another persons letter I had not violated them, also the star published this letter on November 2, and the rules say posting something from Star is ok.
John Bolton her boss wrote back that there were other problems with me. She made up rules as she went along and finally slandered me by saying I made sexual slurs, moderation of reposting. No were in there 10 pages of rules does this say about reposting.
John Bolton
You did not respond to several calls from Roberta Young, our editor and publisher’s administrative assistant, when she tried to set up a conference call with you. In that unprecedented opportunity to speak to Mr. Humenik, Debbie Kornmiller and me, you would have heard that your banning was related not only to the posts of the Kozachik material, but also to some posts involving sexual slurs, and for your actions to undermine our moderation process, including the resposting of material that had been removed.
We’ve considered and reconsidered your case in much detail. We’re not going to restore your reader comment posting privileges. You still have privileges to log in and read the site.
There are no further appeals available to you, and we will not respond to further communication on this issue.
John Bolton, online editorArizona Daily Star / StarNethttp://www.azstarnet.com(520) 618-7868
These accusations are false. Kornmiller lied and just told Bolton what he wanted to hear
I never received any calls as he says I did. I stopped my Cox home phone in December, because it had not been working so I was unable to receive these “messages” they knew my cell phone and e-mail and could have contacted me that way if they had actually tried.
As an interesting point last month I circled pro Republican letters to the editor in red, and Pro Democrat letter in red. I did this for a period of 18 days. The score was 3 Red to 73 Blue. My wife and I have not been able to get a letter to the editor at all in the last two years.
The star is blatantly pro democrat and Kornmiller has been leading the way to unfair and unbalanced reporting since 1981.
Don’t advertise in the star, we have dropped two subscriptions to the Star.Sell you stuff on Craig’s list, is Free. http://tucson.craigslist.org/
As much as I try to keep my cynicism turned up to 11 when it comes to Star coverage, I still find myself capable of being amazed. I was actually happy to see some coverage of this issue in the Star. Now I know that, even when the paper covers the issue, it slants the news to fit its purposes.
Especially ironic is that two of the heavily quoted legislators in the original are S. AZ Dems. Yet Aboud’s comments were cut down, and Patterson’s were removed. Shouldn’t the Star be calling its hometown legislators and asking for comment? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what some local Republicans have to say on the issue?
I guess not. Even when the Star covers a story it would rather not cover, it messes with the message.