Von Pinnon Doth Protest Too Much

Our Opinion/ Ignoring media manipulation is a dereliction of the public’s duty

By Cindy Gomez-Schempp
Editor

The Forum will need some divine intervention to erase perceived stains of biased reporting now engrained in the minds of its readers. Remember that as the “Von’s” of the media world take desperate jabs at other forms of media, they are the “official newspaper” of the county, and as such require a higher standard than radio or an Arts and Entertainment alternative weekly.

I guess the saying about drowning men is true: they tend to pull at anything near them to avoid going down. Does Von Pinnon really think that he can distract readers from noticing that the first disclosure in more than a year of Case’s association to Rick Berg was made in Von Pinnon’s response this Sunday? Rather than answer their phones, messages or the serious allegations made by sources within Forum Communications, The Forum through its proxy, Von Pinnon, opted instead to take pot shots at KFGO, an indispensable source for emergency disaster news, at the expense of flood victims in Minot. Classy.

After seeing the beating that The Forum took on its own Area Voices comments page in response to Matt Von Pinnon’s editorial, we at HPR wondered if we should forego a response and just direct our attention to collecting the interview responses The Forum seems so reluctant to give the public. But there are a few points that our readers need to know.

To recap, The Forum’s CEO, Lloyd Case, was accused of essentially strong-arming employees to write what his wife’s employer, Rick Berg, needed to favor his political ends; this is according to a report on KFGO’s News and Views by Joel Heitkamp. Our journalists followed up on this reported breach of ethics by making attempt after stonewalled attempt at getting a response from The Forum management and employees. The unhelpful editorial from Von Pinnon was the only direct (other than “no comment” responses HPR received from The Forum) answer we’ve received to date.

In a news climate where an FCC commissioner reported in March of 2011 that we are at “pre Water-Gate” levels of journalists in this country, and where blogs, wiki leaks, tabloids and comedy shows have become “trusted sources” of breaking news, we must recognize that it is precisely because of the failure of big mainstream media conglomerates to report real news that we must turn to alternative sources. We have media giants like Forum Communications controlling massive portions of the state’s internet, print media, radio and TV to thank for that.

What’s the saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely?

There’s a reason the FCC once prohibited media monopolies. After Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, we saw a once vibrant and trusted media industry deteriorate to one in which a single company owns half of the radio stations and three competitors owned the whole TV biz.

There’s a disingenuous arrogance about Von Pinnon’s response for several reasons.

First, Von Pinnon needs to go back to journalism school. What does he mean newspapers don’t have unnamed sources? Ever hear of Deep Throat? How about the “deep throat” (pardon the pun) The Forum used recently for ots cover story series on strippers? Every major newspaper has heard of or used unnamed sources. Von Pinnon should also know that he can’t go around belly aching about “unsourced and unchecked” sources when no one, including him, would respond to HPR’s requests for interviews and comments with The Forum Communications employees.

Second, he tries to give us the slip by simply telling us he’s never heard or seen anything unethical regarding Case. So? Just because you don’t see or hear something doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. In fact there are plenty of reasons to suspect that Von Pinnon’s denial of ethical violations by The Forum Communications employees is untrue. According to 20 year Forum veteran, Mike McFeely, Von Pinnon coerced stories out of reporters himself. The bottom line is that Von Pinnon cannot respond for Case, his wife, Bill Marcil Jr. or any of the top brass at The Forum Communications. And he didn’t. The Forum can’t just dodge questions by getting their editorial writer, instead of a reporter, to insinuate that ethical violations of the public trust are not newsworthy. 

Finally, Von Pinnon slips the slope of innuendo and slander with his thinly veiled accusations that neither KFGO news or HPR have ethics or know what they are. Responding to HPR and KFGO with “you’re a democrat,” “your newspaper is leftist” is as effective as replying with “you’re fat” or “you’re stupid”. It may seem like an effective response tactic depending on how much Rush Limbaugh one listens to, but Von Pinnon cannot have his cake and eat it too. If he’s going to respond to serious news in an editorial which he mindlessly name-called all the way through, he can’t then quote HPR’s own article —as his most salient defense - - that The Forum newspaper is balanced, fair, and free from unethical behavior.

Political leanings and associations aside, the reality is this: media have a duty to disclose whatever conflicts they may have, especially if they are reporting the “official news,” so that an informed public can analyze the quality of the news they get. It’s not something most of us are accustomed to, but it is something we have a right to demand. And, it’s something the public should demand.

According to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” If true, the allegations The Forum still hasn’t responded to are a blight on our news source we can’t afford during times of crisis in our country.

The High Plains Reader pledges to bring you a variety of entertainment, arts and news as an alternative weekly focused on independent community-led media. We urge the public to make high journalistic demands of us and our competitors in radio, TV and print because we all deserve a free and independent press. We at HPR also encourage readers to take a lesson from our achievement. We demanded accountability from our official newspaper and forced a disclosure from The Forum that presented a conflict in reporting of the news. It is a week late and who knows how many millions of dollars short … but we at HPR realize that it may have been difficult for Von Pinnon to reach Case’s wife to get permission to respond to us. We hear she’s pretty busy these days working for a congressman.

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