by Tony Palmeri

April 14, 2002

In a recent piece, I argued that the Oshkosh Northwestern printing on April 13th a correction to a story that appeared on March 18th hardly satisfies the Gannett chain's promise to correct errors "promptly." After my piece appeared, a friend e-mailed me to say that perhaps the April 13th correction was so long in coming because the newspaper needed time to obtain information that would prove the paper made a mistake. Indeed, Executive Editor Stew Rieckman did announce in his March 31st column that the correction would be printed as soon as the paper received verification of the status of Human Services Director Keith Laux's contract.

Unfortunately, the tardy correction of the Laux error is not something atypical for the paper. On March 24, 2002 the paper ran this correction of a story that appeared on February 24th.

What is extraordinary about these one month later "clarifications" of the February 24th story is that they virtually rewrite that story. The February 24th story by reporter Eric Bradley came with the headline "Treading Water" and dealt with the status of building maintenance projects in the Oshkosh Area School District. The story pictures the district administration as taking a mostly reactive posture toward building maintenance. Quotes from district employees and a UW Oshkosh biologist are used to suggest that the district administration perhaps doesn't appreciate the severity of the problems or has not done all it could to address them. The clarifications presented one month later, however, reveal that in fact the district administration has been much more proactive on maintenance issues than suggested by the original story. Below follows material from the original story along with the "clarification":

February 24th page A1 story: "The district did replace a soaked carpet this month, but it has no plans to fix the broken concrete walls."

March 24th clarification: "Superintendent Ronald Heilmann said water seepage at Read Elementary School will be dealt with this summer when an excavation team will pull soil away from a cracked basement wall. The crack in the wall, which has been there since a foundation was poured in 1996, will be fixed."

February 24th page A1 story: "The district plans to spend more than $844,000 this year on maintenance projects including partial roof repairs to the West High School gymnasium, North and Webster Stanley schools." A table on page A1 titled "Capital Improvement Projects Completed And Incomplete Or Postponed Since 1998" says this about West High School: "Renovate science wing, replace old physical education lockers, partial roof replacement, replace boiler burners. Incomplete: Roof replacement $825,000." A page A4 table titled "At a glance" says this about West High School: "roof replacement - $825,000."

March 24th clarification: "Roof repairs at Oshkosh West High School are a permanent part of Oshkosh Public School's maintenance plan. The district has spent about $785,000 in repairing roofs so far. The district's Capital Improvement Plan shows the current round of roof repairs at West should be completed by the 2003-2004 school year. "

February 24th page A1 story: "A ceiling leak went undetected at North High School for so long the bathroom of the girl's locker room has been sealed with plastic sheets because water dripped on the girls when they used the facility. The ceiling has been pulled down." Then on page A4: "[Director of Buildings and Grounds John] Diamond said the cause of the persistent leak at North is not a faulty roof but warm, moist air from the school's pool meeting cool air near the roof. It was discovered this year after a team of contractors, architects, building specialists and district staff searched the school. The warm, moist air subsequently condensed on a steel beam near the roof area. The water is running down the steel beam and is dripping on the ceilings of the locker room, the pool office and storage area, prompting the mold growth. The district has plans to spend $75,000 to reapair the roof and $35,000 to repair the girl's locker room ceiling. 'We still have to figure out how to fix it,' Diamond said. "

March 24th clarification: "The district intends to repair a condensation problem at Oshkosh North High School. Water is collecting above the ceilings in the women's locker room because warm air from the pool is meeting cold air in an open pocket near the roof. This effect causes water in the air to condense, run along a steel beam and steadily drip on to ceilings. The district is crafting plans to fix the problem this year."

February 24th page A1 story, page A4: "Superintendent Ronald Heilmann said . . . the maintenance demands might be more acute in Oshkosh as opposed to other districts such as Appleton or Green Bay because the district has more buildings to maintain . . . There are 17 elementary schools, five middle schools and two high schools in the Oshkosh school district."

March 24th clarification: "A further examination of a comment made by Heilmann revealed that the Oshkosh Area School District does not have more buildings than the Green Bay Public School District. Oshkosh has 24 public schools while Green Bay has 35 public schools."

It took a full month to get the information necessary to make these "clarifications?" I realize we are in the Clintonian era of defining terms, but if 30 days constitutes a "prompt" correction, I'd hate to see the paper's definition of "tardy."

Cynics might argue that the newspaper is practicing a kind of "gotcha" journalism with the School District and Winnebago County in which stories begin with the premise that the elected officials or administrators in question are incompetent and deceitful, facts and testimony are gathered which prove already arrived at conclusions, and inaccurate or incomplete stories are used as the basis of negative editorials. Evidence for the cynical view includes the fact that elected officials and administrators of the city of Oshkosh, none of whom have demonstrated themselves to be any more competent (especially on budget issues) or stately (especially on open government issues) than their counterparts in the School District or Winnebago County, rarely have to wait 30 days for a correction or suffer through nasty editorials. The editorial board's treatment of Oshkosh Common Councilor Melanie Bloechl is probably the exception that proves the rule.

I think it's time for the Northwestern to shift the reporter beats. Alex Hummel, Eric Bradley, and Karl Ebert are all excellent reporters who have in my opinion been covering the County (Hummel), the School District (Bradley), and the Oshkosh Common Council (Ebert) too long. Ebert has become way too popular with the people he is covering (when an entire governing body expresses admiration for a reporter it probably means the politicians no longer feel that reporter is a threat to ask the tough questions or seek out the uncomfortable facts), while Bradley is not trusted by the majority of the School Board and school administration. Hummel, meanwhile, has the kind of muckraking qualities that are badly needed in coverage of the Oshkosh Common Council. So, my advice would be to put Hummel on the Common Council beat, Bradley on Winnebago County, and Ebert on the School District.

Regardless of who reports the stories, it should not take 30 days to correct or clarify misinformation.

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