Beth Hawkins, my colleague at City Pages who wrote the Peebles piece and no
longer subscribes to this list, has apparently been apprised by other list
members about the conversation here. She contacted me and asked me to submit
this on her behalf.
Britt Robson
Lyndale
Here is Beth's post:
Given that I've just spent a week and a half hearing from folks throughout
MPS about the hot seat currently occupied by Steve Brandt as a result of his
own work on the schools beat, I'm going to overlook the vitriol.
I feel especially terrible about the errors in my Peebles story because I
think it's a very important piece. Far from simply repeating what people
told me, I made a record number of calls on this one, discarded an equally
high number of allegations from disgruntled educators that were
unverifiable, untenable, or seemingly true but in the end irrelevant. As
Steve Brandt no doubt knows, given the number of unhappy MPS employees I
hear he himself has corralled in recent weeks, the district grapevine is
populated by people who are terribly reluctant to go on the record about
anything. I got several calls yesterday from staffers who said the bulk of
the story was right, and feared that the errors would discredit the whole
piece. Which is indeed Journalism 101.
But let me say this: My attempts to verify anything about this story with
anyone at 807 were met with a level of disorder, evasion, stonewalling, and
outright surliness I haven't experienced since I worked in Central America.
I was unable to talk to anyone in communications, unable to learn how many
staffers once worked there, how many remained, and whether any of the people
whose names were familiar to me from past contacts with the department were
still employed by the district. For example, three people who should know
told me Jackie Turner had quit. My efforts to get her on the phone went
nowhere; the staffers who answered the phone would not tell me whether she
was still with the office, or indeed whether there still was an office. No
matter what I asked, I was told that the only person permitted to talk to me
was Steve Belton, who did not take my calls. Yesterday, two people told me
Ms. Turner is still there. Is Mr. Brandt right that this is a third error? I
haven't a clue.
En fin, who cares if it's three out of four or five out of seven if they
aren't actually doing any communicating? I regret the errors, but I stand by
the story.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Britt Robson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Steve Brandt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 9:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Mpls] School Board Member Dennis Shapiro posts:
> I'll concede that my City Pages colleague was uncharacteristically sloppy
> with the facts in the recent story on Peebles. But before Mr. Brandt
served
> up his gratuitous condescension ("Reporting is more than repeating what
> people tell you. You have to check it out--if you want to get the story
> straight."), his post indicated that he has received "numerous" phone
calls
> from folks unhappy with Peebles. He also struts his knowledge that not
just
> three out of four, but five out of seven people in the district's
> communications system have quit since Peebles was hired. Given that
Peebles'
> abrasive style is an increasing topic of conversation in the halls of both
> the schools and administrative buildings of the MPS (and, increasingly,
> among MPS parents), I'm sure he is aware of a lot of other things.
> So, is the subject of Ms. Peebles' impact on operations and morale within
> the district, not newsworthy? To what extent is she being autocratic and
to
> what extent might she be being smeared? And what about the dramatic
> limitations on who and what reporters can access from this "public" school
> system?
> Journalism is more than getting the story straight. You have to pass on
what
> you've learned to your readers--if you want to be an effective reporter.
>
> Britt Robson
> City Pages employee
> Lyndale
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Brandt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:36 PM
> Subject: [Mpls] School Board Member Dennis Shapiro posts:
>
>
> > School Board Member Dennis Shapiro posts:
> >
> > The Peebles story in City Pages includes without correction a couple
> >
> > of rumors that are going around like crazy. To correct:
> >
> > 1. The windows were frosted BEFORE Supt. Peebles was hired.
> > 2. There is no 90-day probationary period in law nor in her contract.
> >
> > Brandt from out of state:
> > I can confirm what Shapiro says from my own investigations. The
> > windows were frosted under Jennings. And I've read the Peebles contract
> > and corrected numerous callers who tried to tell me there is a 90-day
> > probation. And there was a third error. It's not three out of four
> > communications staffers for the district who have quit. It's five of
> > seven.
> >
> > Reporting is more than repeating what people tell you. You have to
> > check it out--if you want to get the story straight.
> >
> >
> > Steve Brandt
> > Staff writer
> > Star Tribune
> > Phone: 612-673-4438
> > Fax: 612-673-4359
> > 425 Portland Av.
> > Minneapolis, MN 55488
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> >
> > For state and national discussions see:
> http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
> > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
> > ________________________________
> >
> > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
> E-Democracy
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>
> Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
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