Having endured a couple of very public conflict-of-interest cases, the Plain Dealer newsroom is understandably prickly about any situation that calls a reporter or editor’s objectivity into question.
Browns beat writer Tony Grossi was yanked off the detail after accidentally tweeting his very strong disdain for Browns owner Randy Lerner, and Connie Schultz resigned after concerns arose about her coverage of an event featuring Josh Mandel, her husband Sherrod Brown’s opponent in the upcoming election.
Which is why when an anonymous letter landed on our desk from the PD newsroom — printed on Plain Dealer letterhead and beginning “This issue must be reported due to the issue with Tony Grossi.” — it was instantly cause for investigation.
What staffer is hiding a private agenda and destroying the fundamental tenets of “fair, balanced, and objecting reporting,”? Does Road Rant’s dad own a road sign construction business? Does Michael McIntyre have a Dane Cook tramp stamp?
Nope. Plain Dealer Editor Debra Adams Simmons was the cause for concern. Click on the image below for the letter.
We asked Simmons what she made of the newsroom missive and the Fudge BFF accusation. Here’s what she had to say:
This article appears in Mar 14-20, 2012.
It’s a fake. Look at the lettering on the bottom it’s crooked.(more crooked than the crooked scan provided.
I am still trying to figure out how the PD went in political lock-step with The Columbus Dispatch and the Wolfe censorship rags. This is what happens when you get a republican governor who is the darling of the Columbus control-freak group led by Wolfe and his underwear business friend…and then OSU..This central Ohio politics has tried to take over Cleveland and was given a red carpet by the idiots on the Jimmy and Frank mafia want-to-be gang. The door was open for the republican party to act as though they were the only ones to be trusted with money and power..this is how the right wing moves. In Columbus, the Wolfe family rule of media is over one hundred years old. It has been virtually owned by the republican party for all that time. Google it or go to the library—The FCC grandfathered the violation in which the Wolfe family has retained complet control of the local media. Big politics and big money and the republican party all speel censorship and abuse of media. The PD sold out, just as the Triv did…It is all about money in this states main-stream media…and guess who is writing and editing the news…well, we’re just stupid factory rats up here who are not educated and as professional as Columbus folk. We are just rust-bucket has beens with looser sports teams and loosers for people. This is bull shit and it is time we in Cleveland were given our voice in this state again. Fuck Jimmy and Frank and fuck the pricks who took advantage of our local population as a result of Jimmy, Frank and gang. The entire country sees Cleveland the way the fuck heads in the media want us to be seen.. Speak up and fight back, Cleveland! OWS and Cleveland and help return our City to the real voice of freedom…”The City Club” of Cleveland plays fair and has played fair in the sharing of ideas for one hundred years…about the same time the Wolf family of Columbus was censoring and controling the media. This is our honest history…oh yes we had cars getting wired by the dozens by people after Danny and others, but what has replaced the strong organized crime? Corporate America and their bought politicians…like our governor.
Kenny, next time take the time to think of a quick and direct to the point response and not post some Stream of consciousness diatribe. It makes it impossible for people to follow what exactly your point is. Your complaining about Republicans and the Wolfe family owning media in Columbus but then also lash out at Dimora, the PD and Triv. Triv started as a very liberal Democrat and over the years has slowly become more conservative, how is that selling out? Its not like one day he just flipped a switch and changed his mind. One party rule creates the ability for corruption, whether it be Democrat or Republicans. Cuyahoga County is suffering from Democratic abuse while Maricopa county in AZ is suffering from Republican abuse.
BrunoB…I am not of one party. I like the Green Party and I like a few democrats and a (very) few republicans. I think that Triv, Rush, Glenn are idiots and blow-hards. Republicans like to listen to angry fat guys talk about the hate they have for liberal minded intellectuals and artists and thinkin people…and then they like to use their wallet to decide who’s right or better or who has the biggest crank. I don’t write on this blog or any others to be liked by conservatives. They have hated me most of my life and I’m an old guy. I have endoured bosses listening to ass-holes like Rush and Triv say ego oriented, contant hate and angry garble…And those fuckers make sense to you Bruno? Where as me, Kenny Jaeger, need to change my communication style so that you Bruno give me better grades?
Grades? Really? No its about speaking properly and being articulate so people can respond, debate and exchange ideas. If you really are a part of OWS then your doing the movement a disservice with your ranting and profanity. There are plenty of Conservative commentators who are not “fat, angry guys who talk about hate”; the same as there are fat Liberals like Michael Moore and skinny Liberals foul mouthed liberals like Bill Maher. If you don’t like what the your boss or employer listens to then find a new job or start your own business. Also yes, Triv does make sense from me time to time, same as he doesn’t make sense to me from time to time. Lumping people in any type of generalization does nothing to help foster communication or debate.
Nice speech Bruno. Are you a ringer from FOX? Bill Maher is an ass-hole. This is the only blog site that I can find which lets me swear or say stupid fucking stuff and still not kick me off the air..But I know I’ve hit some nerves with you guys and I am happy about that. The Triv has become a hybrid of Rush and Jimmy D. is the same as any punk hood who thinks he has friends in powerful places..these ass=holes spend their lives blowing smoke up each others asses and expect the regular guy to think they are funny or smart or hip…mostly all have been ass-holes…except for Ghoulardi and all who were in his mold like Big Chuck and Little John. But these big mouthed republican types.
The social media has made all things out in the open. Non-secret bull shit is what almost all of the crap which we post or cell phone or land line or wave in from a frequency unknown..We have a fucking decider mechanisim, like a CPU chip and it has a bunch of data which none of us can make much sense of. I would like to debate Bill Maher on the existence of God; I would like to debate Rush on civil rights issues; I would like to debate Newt on why he educated freshmen republicans to look at liberals in such a terrible and negative way; I would love to debate Grover Norquist and the ideas as to why a guy like him should be allowed to get our representatives to sign a contract which has Grover telling our polical representatives how to fucking vote…It has gone fucking insane and the idiots who the republican party has put in the front of the people of America is a disgrace and an insult to our freedoms of intellectual pusuit…not just fucking money you fucking ass holes. We have seven billion people on this fucking planet now and most are poor and can’t get the goods to wipe their asses, and the other 20% look down their noses at the others and cut off their food stamps or life lines with the hospitals and doctors. You pricks don’t have any idea as to the harm you do to the general population of the world.. Fuck it, I’m tired. It’s 2013pm and 032012 in Cleveland on Lake Erie.
I have never been a fan of the Plain Dealer, and I don’t consider them a good source of information or anything else really. They do have comics though, so that’s a plus for them.
As for the whole Kenny & Bruno convo here, I’ll toss in my two cents. Kenny, I also enjoy that scene lets everyone say whatever they want and doesn’t censor any comments or language. It lets people come off just how they are. I have to score a point to Bruno though about the long comments. If you’re looking for people to read your comments and actually have an intelligent debate, then putting a book isn’t the way to go. Most people see a wall of text and then just move on because in order to reply to your posts they need to write an essay to cover everything. It’s not that people are stupid, most people just don’t want to sink 10 minutes into writing a smart reply to a huge post. But hey, everyone can do what they want, that’s the nice thing about this site. You two play nice now and stay out of trouble.
Scene does bong hits…YAY!!!!
AdamHall: That was one of the nicest things anyone has said to me on this site, or on the PD’s which I used to do all my ranting and ravings without the swears until I was thrown off because of my opinions. I do most of my political work on yahoo via the pen name Pirate and I am getting much activity there…but then this is still the only place I can swear and get people really pissed.