Minneapolis (Feb. 15, 2007) - A complaint against the Ely Echo by two Ely school officials over a Halloween party photo was denied by the Minnesota News Council today. A separate complaint by two Winona State University professors against the Winona Post and Shopper was upheld.

Ely School Superintendent Thomas Bruels and Ely High School Principal Joselyn Murphy complained after the Echo published a photo of local children at a Halloween party that included a caption in which the children described themselves as a "dead superintendent," "a superintendent and principal killer and victim," and a "dead principal." Bruels and Murphy said the Echo should not have published the photo and caption, which referred to them directly, in light of recent national incidents of school violence.

The Echo did not attend the hearing, but Editor Anne Swenson wrote in a Nov. 11, 2006 editorial that "the significance of publishing this photo and caption was to bring awareness to the community of the potential for violence which exists in the world and this community."

News Council members voted 9 to 1, with one abstention, to deny the complaint. Several members said while not unfair to Murphy and Bruels, the photo and caption were published in poor taste.

"The paper acted in poor judgment using the quotes," said public member Cathy Kennedy.

Media member Larry Werner was the lone dissenter. "There is no question in my mind that it is ‘unfair’ to the only superintendent and [high school] principal in Ely to run a picture depicting children dressed as a dead superintendent and principal."

The News Council also heard a complaint by two Winona State University professors, Susan and Tim Hatfield, against the Winona Post. The Hatfields complained after a Sept. 6, 2006 story challenged the validity and credibility of a survey prepared by Susan Hatfield to evaluate the performance of Winona School Superintendent Paul Durand.

The Post published quotes from two people, stating that the Hatfield survey was "plagiarized," and did not meet academic research standards. The Hatfields, although interviewed for the story, were not informed of the plagiarism claim, and did not have the opportunity to respond to the charge before the front-page story was published. They asserted that the survey was not plagiarized, but rather adapted from a standard superintendent evaluation used by several school districts. The Hatfields said the paper acted unfairly by failing to investigate the accusations made against them and by failing to ask them to respond.

Responding to the Hatfields’ complaint, Winona Post Editor Fran Edstrom wrote in a letter, "The role of the reporter is to report that there is an argument and explain it to the public, acting as a medium for both sides of the issue, not to attempt to verify that one side is correct and the other is not." Edstrom maintained that the story was reported fairly and accurately. The Winona Post did not attend the hearing.

The News Council voted 9 to 1 to uphold the Hatfields’ complaint.

"The reporter had an obligation to tell the Hatfields there was an allegation of plagiarism during the interview," said media member Wendy Wyatt. "If Susan’s quotes had been in the story, it would have read quite differently," said media member Kerri Miller. "The reader would have known there was a dispute regarding the charges of plagiarism."

MINNEAPOLIS (February 2, 2007) - The Minnesota News Council Board of Directors has elected former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer and three others to three-year terms. They are: Carolyn Brookter, former KSTP-TV reporter and now media relations director for Target Corporation; Tom Bartel, publisher of The Rake magazine and former publisher of City Pages; and Nancy Conner, former St. Paul Pioneer Press reader advocate and now Director of Publications and Media Relations for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Named chairman of the News Council’s hearing panel is Jim Gilbert, who served on the Minneosta Supreme Court from 1998 to 2004. He now leads a law practice that specializes in mediation and arbitration. Gilbert is the seventh Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, either sitting or retired, to occupy the hearing chair.

Previous chairpersons included Justices C. Donald Peterson; Doublas Amdahl; John Simonett; Paul Anderson; Esther Tomljanovich, and Ed Stringer.

Latimer served as mayor of St. Paul from 1976 to 1990. He is a professor of urban studies at Macalester College, was dean of Hamline University Law School, and was an adviser to Secretary Henry Cisneros at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.