News-Record.com

In order for "mainstream" newspaper reporters to "toil" on a story, the newspaper's editors have to look beyond their own biases and actually ask sources for background and supporting information.

I've seen two Editorials in two days that demonstrate that the News & Record is still unwilling to take off the rose-colored glasses where state politics & politicians are concerned, and really objectively examine the "big picture" (in terms of acountability) of North Carolina's budget shortfalls in healthcare. You simply cannot blame everything on the Feds or President Bush anymore. Show us the money. Where did the money go?

Still waiting, Lex.

Dr. Johnson:

You (and everyone else) are welcome to vent on my blog. But please keep in mind: I supervise no reporters. I write no editorials. I control no budgets. The best I can do is pass your concerns on to those who do. I've done that. Repeatedly.

If all you want to do is vent, that's fine. That's part of what this blog is here for. But if you're interested in actually getting something to happen, you might have better luck following up with people better situated than I to make something happen.

Lex, I HAVE communicated with "people better situated" than you. REPEATEDLY. I've begged for the journalistic crumbs John Robinson might throw FOR YEARS. Nothing happens.

Then I see more self-agrandizing blather on your blogs about how fantastic you all are - how all of this technology is such a great boost for journalism in our extended community . . . about a "public square" . . . and people writing their own stories (because the N&R cannot spare a reporter for one or two hours).

Then I read Editorials that bend over backwards to cut Governor Easley slack about the absolute mess that has been made of healthcare in this state. There has been little or no fiscal accountability in the "not-for-profit" sector for YEARS. The John Edwards of this world have turned malpractice litigation into a lottery. HELLO? Where is the responsible journalism that is going to prevent our kids from paying the price?

When I do "vent" on your blog because your City Editors (after SEVEN YEARS) are still pretending that none of this stuff in Asheboro happened (or that the Feds and President Bush are solely responsible for all of North Carolina's budget shortfalls in healthcare), I am told told by other bloggers that I am less likely to get "mainstream" attention from the newspaper because I've done an end-run around the Editors.

And you wonder why I (and others) vent? Why I am critical and skeptical? Please.

JR doesn't run his decisions past me and I'm in no position to second-guess him. Moreover, to the best of my knowledge, after your most recent exchange with him, he didn't say "no," did he?

With all due respect, based on what I know of the story so far, it would take far more than "one or two hours" of a reporter's time to report and write. Given our stretched staff, that factor alone would make any assigning editor reluctant to devote a reporter's time to the story. I'm not suggesting the story has no merit, nor am I necessarily defending such a decision, but every decision every editor here makes about what to cover carries with it an opportunity cost. And some of those opportunity costs are significant. Choosing not to assign a reporter to such a story under those circumstances might not be the right call, but neither is it "pretending that nothing happened" or "covering it up."

Underneath your anger I sense that you genuinely believe that the N&R could do this story and do the public some good. For what it's worth, I find that faith refreshing and humbling, and I wish more people felt that way. And I say that having a pretty good idea what your response is likely to be.

Here's my response (I expect it will fit your expectations). Your argument about asigning reporters just doesn't hold any water for me. Last spring, as a Pediatrician and former public servant badly burned, I picked up a sign and strapped it to my body and protested in front of Randolph Hospital. TWICE. The News and Record and the Courier Tribune were both notified beforehand. Reporters and photographers showed up and went through the motions - but NOTHING got printed (except in the Randolph Guide - God bless them).

The background story did not really need to be "investigated" at that point - the fact that I was out there just needed to be reported. "DOCTOR PROTESTS IN FRONT OF HOSPITAL". A photograph and a blurb would have been all it might have taken to open a door (or "can of worms") that has been slammed shut for years by special interests and "good-ole-boy" networking and people in government/public service just too complacent to do their jobs.

People who stopped to talk to me and inquire about what had led me to protest, asked me pointedly why the "local" media was not looking into this story. And I could not really answer them.

"We don't report stories because they are too complicated" is simply no excuse. You betcha I think that reporting this story would do some good. The public doesn't know what it is not told. And the public has paid bigtime for this party.

I have lived and breathed this mess for SEVEN years. I've got the documentation (in black and white) and I've done the legwork. I expect I could get a reporter up to speed in less than two hours.

John Robinson has not said "No". But no one at the News & Record has picked up the phone either. I distinctly remember the straw that broke my back with the News & Record. A year or so ago, in one of our e-mail exchanges back and forth (with me pleading for some media scrutiny), I asked John how he slept at night.

He told me that he sleeps very well.

And you wonder why I'm "angry"?

No, I don't wonder why you're angry. I wonder why you're angry at the News & Record. Seems to me your real anger ought to be directed at the profession to which you devoted yourself for, at least according to you, betraying you and the people the profession is supposed to serve. Perhaps it is and I'm just misreading you.

As for JR's answer to your question, I know him well enough, and have enough insight into what is and is not possible in his job, to be untroubled by his response.

O Lex, there's enough "anger" to go around.

The profession and system that betrayed me could be FIXED if YOUR profession would do its job and start asking harder questions of the people who are supposed to regulate and police it (please re-read my previous post if you're still not clued into why I'm unhappy with the News & Record). Honestly, would a picture and a "short-take" have been too much to ask last year?

I'm not Jerry Bledsoe. I have the same beef with the Courier Tribune that I have with the News & Record. Oddly enough, the Courier's journalistic failures have been easier to take because they have been so consistant and so blatantly biased in favor of advertising revenue and small town "cliques". The Courier's publisher and Editor have made it quite clear where their allegiances lie. At least they are not pretending (no excuse for what they've done - or more accurately, failed to do - but there is some small comfort in consistency). On the other hand, the News & Record came down to Asheboro and said, "we're going to make a difference."

Some of us believed you. Now our newspaper inserts are from High Point.

It's easy enough for you to be "untroubled". You have not been on the receiving end of silence.

This has been an interesting exchange, but getting beyond the "Should the N&R cover this story?" and "Why hasn't the N&R covered this story?" questions I'm moved to ask one of my own, with an observation to set it up:

Observation: I don't have the foggiest idea what the story is. From your comments I gather it has to do with healthcare and state/local funding (Medicare?). But really I have no idea.

Question: If it's a good story why not enlist one of the many local bloggers who are proven writers and utilize Greensboro101, TriadBlogs, etc. to get it aired? If it has legs then it might get picked up by the other media outlets.

Let's be honest. Given the choice between two "good" stories the one that will more likely be written will be the one that takes less time, fewer resources, etc. That isn't just business, it's human nature.

As with other blog driven stories this one could help any interested editor or reporter by handing them sources, story leads and background info on a silver platter.

Just a thought.

Point made. You don't know because the News & Record did not see fit to report.

It's not so complicated. It's about Healthcare fraud and abuse (specifically the National Health Service Corps & NC Office of Rural Health and Medicaid being taken for a ride). And a doctor who did the right thing clinically & ethically - then blew the whistle and saw her life destroyed for her trouble (while the people who abused the system thrived and lined their pockets) . It's about a civil court system that is a joke - about perjury and contempt and lawyers who lie. It's about DA's who won't do their jobs, and state & federal governments that exercise virtually no oversight. It's about a senator who was too busy runnig for President to attend to the needs & rights of the People he was elected to serve (a senator the big-city newspapers in this state tried to shove down our throats). And it's about a governor & his attorney general trying to dodge responisbility for a healthcare mess in Raleigh.

The story will get told sooner or later. Of that I am resolved and have no doubt. Alas, part of the story will be that the News & Record and the Courier Tribune did not tell the story in a timely fashion. They did not even try.

Dr. Jonson,

Do you spell out the details anywhere we can access it? Do you, for example, have a blog of your own where you discuss this stuff? Generate public buzz, and media coverage will follow...