Tuesday, December 17, 2002 10:21 PM
Resolution passed after Marc Haefele addresses the Club Board: L.A.Weekly responds in letter
At the November meeting of the L.A.P.C. Board heard Marc Haefele, former columnist for the L.A. Weekly, explain why he decided to abruptly resign from the alternative paper. Haefele contends that News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt violated journalistic ethics by, among other breaches, telling him what subject matter to write in his column. Following a lively discussion, the Board passed a Resolution by a simple majority reprimanding The Weekly and calling on the paper’s management to launch an investigation of Haefel’s charges and create a journalism “Standards & Practices” section for their employee manual.
The complete text of the resolution can be found on the club’s web site at www.lapressclub.org, along with a letter in response from L.A. Weekly News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt.
In part the board’s resolution read: “(“We do) not believe this is a simple personnel matter but a fundamental question of jour- nalistic principles and trust. In this age of media conglomeration where news outlets are few and where business executives in another part of the country can decide what is published or broad- cast as local news, the L.A. Weekly has stood for diversity and alternative points of view. Readers could count on the Weekly as a scrupulous scrapper, unwilling to be intimidated by corporate machinations.
“The columnist is generally understood to be an independent voice, who chooses both his or her subject and viewpoint. To interfere with either obligation runs against the fundamental principles of journalism. “Now, we are gravely concerned that if an editor at a progressive, alternative publication is dictating what an experienced and valued columnist must write, and killing columns because they do not conform to the paper’s editorial stand, what kind of independence could be at risk for other columnists and reporters upon whom we rely?
“The Los Angeles Press Club believes that such actions violate the journalist’s canon and may lead to the further erosion of trust the public has in journalism and journalistic institutions.”
The response from the L.A. Weekly reads, in part: “It is admirable that the Press Club is interested in exploring major issues facing the local journalism community; Haefele’s unsolicited resignation, however, is not one of them. Editorial free- dom is not at stake in his case. Nor is the L.A. Weekly’s mission to provide a progressive and independent voice in danger. The highest principle in play here is the right of someone to quit a job.
“From the outset, you should know three things: occasionally we assign topics to our columnists; never once have we imposed on Haefele a point of view to adopt in a column; and never once have we rejected one of his ideas for a column because it might conflict with an editorial position of the L.A. Weekly. In fact, we encourage debate in our pages. In the same edition in which we had asked Haefele to write about secession, columnist Marc Cooper chastised us for endorsing Gray Davis (he favored the Green candidate).”
For more info on the resolution, email Karen Ocamb (karen@lapressclub.org).
