Glass, who was elected to the school board in November, complained that an editorial column, "Beware of dirty tricks during the campaign season," unfairly mischaracterized his campaign as "nasty and misleading," and included comments he made prior to becoming a declared candidate for school board. Glass also complained that the timing of the publication was unfair - the paper was published the weekend prior to the election - because he could not offer a rebuttal before Duluth citizens went to the polls.

Minneapolis (Jan. 17, 2008) - The Minnesota News Council voted 15-0 today to uphold a complaint that a Woodbury Bulletin editorial was factually inaccurate in its portrayal of an Afton City Councilman’s conduct at a city council meeting. The News Council denied a second complaint that the paper had a responsibility to check the accuracy of a similar letter to the editor. The vote was 9-4, with two abstentions.

After a Sept. 18, 2007 meeting, the Woodbury Bulletin published an editorial, "Councilman’s Antics Were Unnecessary," and a similar letter to the editor that were critical of Afton City Councilman Joe Richter. The pieces allege that Richter treated another city councilmember disrespectfully during a dispute that occurred at the meeting.

"The Woodbury Bulletin portrayed me in a false light," said Richter. "They took some facts and exaggerated them in duration and intensity in an effort to develop a false representation of me and what transpired." The Bulletin did not attend the hearing, but Editor Bob Eighmy told the Council that the paper stands behind its Sept. 26 editorial.

The Bulletin wrote that Richter "went into something of a tirade" and "took 20 minutes to argue his point," after another councilmember made a request to have resident comments from a supplemental information packet read aloud. The editorial also stated that Richter was "waving his nameplate" in front of councilmember Nick Mucciacciaro’s face.

News Council members viewed video footage from the Sept. 18 Afton City Council meeting, and unanimously agreed that the editorial did not accurately portray Richter’s conduct. They expected to see theatrics, but only identified a few moments of lively give and take between Richter and Councilman Mucciacciaro.

In its deliberation of the second complaint, the News Council members discussed the standards of accuracy and fairness used in newspaper opinion pages. Public member Colin Sokolowski asked if editorials should be held to a higher standard of accuracy than letters to the editor. "There is a higher burden on editorials to ‘get it right,’" said media member Steve Schild, a journalism professor at St. Mary’s University.

"What I felt when I read the Woodbury Bulletin editorial was that I wanted everyone to know, ‘That is not me; that is not what happened!’" said Richter. "The News Council provided me with a forum where my real voice could be heard."

About the Minnesota News Council

The Minnesota News Council was created in 1970 to promote fair, vigorous and trusted journalism. It presents complaints about accuracy and fairness to news organizations, holds public hearings to consider unresolved complaints and conducts public forums aimed at fostering trust in journalism. The News Council has 24 voting members, half of them journalists, half laypersons. The hearing process is voluntary; the Council’s determinations are advisory and carry no sanctions.

A group of Falun Gong practitioners in the Twin Cities has dropped its complaint against the Star Tribune after being provided space for a published commentary about an Associated Press news story that ran in the Minneapolis newspaper.

Falun Gong says its members in China are systematically persecuted by the government. The group objected to an AP story that reported on self-immolations of so-called Falun Gong defectors who renounced the group as subversive. Falun Gong members here said that much of the world’s press had established that the Chinese government had staged the self-immolations to manipulate public opinion.

The News Council facilitated settlement of the complaint.

The settlement left undiscussed the issue of whether a newspaper that subscribes to a wire service is responsible for errors or omissions in the wire report, and if the newspaper should be expected to check facts itself before publishing the story.

What do you think should be the standard? Please comment.