Read my lips - Landmark Communications, Inc.
FREE SPEECH is NOT for sale.
I've been offered money by Landmark Communications to keep my mouth shut - $1,900 minus taxes, but I'm not taking it....
According to Landmark's own ethical standards they "believe" in the independence of their employees and in their ethical separation from sources and seamy influences. They state:
"The independence of our editors, reporters and photographers is not for sale…."
But I have proof of a different reality.....
According to memos and disciplinary actions in my personnel file and my own complaints of harassment and unethical treatment at the hands of unethical management, I was recently terminated from Landmark Communications, Inc. d/b/a The Central Kentucky News Journal and The Springfield Sun.In order to protect the paper's "revenue stream" [a direct quote from Publisher Richard RoBards] and in violation of basic newspaper ethics as set forth by both The Society for Professional Journalists and Poynter.org the CKNJ put money and income and easy access to secret police tips and information above journalistic ethics and their duty to their readers.
Among those ethics listed by SPJ is an admonition to:
Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
Journalists should:
Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.
CKNJ disciplined me for what I claim was a legal, ethical and professional action on my part - speaking to a police detective in open court after identifying myself as a reporter for the "News-Journal."
Campbellsville Police Detective Patricia Skeen willingly talked to me in open court with several police officers around her. She claims I didn't introduce myself as a reporter. But - my first words out of my mouth were - "Hi, I'm Becky Blanton from the News-Journal and I've been trying to get hold of you for a couple of weeks. I left a couple of messages on your voice mail, but you haven't called me back. Do you have a minute to just talk?" I was holding a tape recorder and reporter's notebook in my hand at the time and she willingly agreed to speak with me.
As we talked back and forth about the status of sexual predators in Campbellsville and the difficulty in tracking them down and in rehabilitating them, Skeen said something particularly insightful. I ASKED HER IF I COULD QUOTE HER ON THAT. She said "no."
Respecting that "no," but wanting some kind of comment, I said, "What CAN I quote you on?" And she gave me a quote - a quote, by the way, which she later told my editor WAS correct and accurate. Our meeting and chat was NOT hostile, but rather relaxed - or so I thought. Yet, two hours later Skeen is on the phone complaining to my editor, Becky Dial.
Dial then demanded to know what I said to this woman. I explained what happened just as I did here - a version Skeen now denies occurred. I can't print Skeen's version because I didn't hear or read of it - but got it second-hand from Dial and CKNJ Publisher Richard RoBards.
Skeen's version of what happened obviously counted more than mine did and for the next several months I paid dearly for her anger at me and the paper by being "disciplined" several times and then ultimately losing my job over it. I was told I could not go by the police station, could not talk to the police, e-mail the police or have any contact with the police. I was literally being "disciplined" for trying to do my job. There is a very lengthy memo in my personnel file regarding the incident. I'll be happy to post the entire memo here in the coming weeks.
Amazingly enough - Dial THEN assigns me a series of stories on truancy and tells me if I have questions for the police - that I'll have to go through her to get quotes for the story. The police beat - mind you - is NOT my usual beat. WHY, after being told I can't talk to the police, am I being assigned a story that I will need to talk to the police about?
Well, because if I don't meet deadline or do a bad job, I can be fired for "just cause" for not doing my job. Is it all starting to come together? Fortunately I was able to complete the stories - even expanding the series and ultimately winning an honorable mention for them in a Landmark in-house competition judged by an independent newspaper - The Courier Journal.
To make a long story short, Detective Pat Skeen and former police chief Bill Cassell used their "police power" to keep me from doing my job, threating to withhold [according to RoBards and Dial] information and comments and "inside tips" about "perp walks" and pedophiles and even non-public-record information which included things such as the age and details and names of juveniles involved in sex crimes. Those juicy tips would no longer be fed to the newspaper if I were not kept away from the police, Cassell allegedly [according to RoBards and Dial] told CKNJ.
Those threats from the police ultimately resulted in my being fired from the newspaper. Why did the police want me kept away? Who knows? Perhaps they'd read my past articles on police corruption on www.sierratimes.com [THP Officer Resigns] or the first article on this corrupt Tennessee Highway Patrol Officer, or other investigative pieces and feared I was looking at the Campbellsville Police Department as well.
Since this incident I've heard from elected officials in Campbellsville that there is a concern over police "profiling" of black drivers and of corruption among the officers. Will there ever be a story on those things? Not likely - at least not from CKNJ if this is how they do business across the board. Do I have to worry about retaliation from the Campbellsville Police Department or any of their fellow officers? I don't know. Do I? Time will tell.
Landmark Communications, Inc. d/b/a The Central Kentucky News Journal, went along with Cassell's demands - admitting to me they did so in order to protect their "inside source" and non-public record news tips in order to do what was best for the newspaper's "revenue stream."
When you have newspapers co-operating with police not to get information, but to violate basic human civil rights and liberties in order to make money, there's something wrong with that picture isn't there?
RoBards also told me I could not talk to Skeen or the officers involved because "she's very, very angry and we're trying to protect you from her anger."
WHAT!!?? Then he later tells me I'm "paranoid" about the police. How does a normal person feel when told they need to be "protected" from police anger? He also said a judge told him that I might want to "be careful" because the police had "taken an interest" in my car as well. Isn't that amazing and coincidental timing?
RoBards later said his "timing" on mentioning my car had been "off" about six months - that he meant to mention I shouldn't have my dog in the car when I first started working there. The fact that NOW a judge had mentioned it to him and he was telling me about it...was mere coincidence. Do you believe that?
Months after these incidents, after being disciplined and badgered and constantly reminded that I was not to contact police and a series of e-mails in which I have to ask and receive permission to even pursue feature story leads I was finally terminated.
At my termination I was given an agreement which offered me $1,900 to not talk about things and to "hold Landmark Communications in a positive and upbeat light." I have 21 days in which to decide whether to sign or not. I choose NOT to sign. Like I said, "Free speech is NOT for sale."
I have elected to keep in step with The Society for Professional Journalists ethical admonition to "Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media" I am doing so here and this blog will remain up indefinitely. I will never agree to any kind of gag order. I will remain free to discuss and talk about the factual events that happened to me and for which I have documentation of.
According to Landmark's own ethic's policy:
Employees must never become obligated to news sources, advertisers, suppliers or any person or organization by receiving gifts or favors. Situations will arise that call for judgment. We need not be reduced to arguing with sources over who will pay for a cup of coffee or a hot dog. If you have any doubt, check with your team leader.
Obviously I don't rank as high as a hot dog. Neither the Central Kentucky News Journal or Landmark Communications, Inc. have honored the code of ethics in dealing with this situation and I have the memos, e-mails and personnel files to prove it.
Look for them all soon...
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