In 1993, I began writing a regular column for the Columbia Daily Tribune. In December 2012, Tribune managing editor Jim Robertson emailed that my column would no longer be published.
I asked if I could write a "farewell" piece and
his reply was a single word: "NO."After 19 years of
faithful opining, I was terminated without so much as a "thank you" or the simple opportunity to tell my readers "goodbye."
What happened? Though
I came out against REDI's Enhanced Enterprise Zone (EEZ) and the blight designation it required,
even sparking a debate with Tribune owner and editor in chief Hank Waters III, I upset the apple cart when I asserted the
Tribune was consistently wrong on the issue.
I made this charge on the
Columbia Citizens Yahoo Listserv, in response to a
Tribune article about REDI asking the Columbia City Council to repeal EEZ after nearly a year of public uproar.
I referred to Mayor McDavid, Councilman Dudley, and Councilman Kespohl as "Dancing Monkeys" who twirled to REDI’s tune. After all, they passed REDI's EEZ Blight Decree without so much as a single community consultation, and they did it illegally, via Resolution rather than Ordinance, as required by city law.
My statement was viewed as an insult that apparently struck a nerve at the Tribune. I was told I was "reckless."
If I was "reckless" with the truth, it was in stating the Tribune got it "consistently wrong." Upon review of Tribune EEZ coverage, I now state the Tribune got it DELIBERATELY wrong.
Likewise, the Tribune did NOT disclose it benefited from an earlier blight declaration that led to the condemnation of Sharp End – a predominately black business area. The Tribune Building and Waters Publishing Company are located on condemned Sharp End land.
These undisclosed conflicts of interest may also have affected news coverage. For instance, the Tribune reported in separate stories that "114 communities" and "120 communities" had EEZs. This is simply untrue. The Missouri Department of Economic Development does not report the number of communities with EEZs. It reports the total number of EEZs, now 124.
What's the difference? If 20 communities have six EEZ's each, that's 120 total EEZs -- not 120 communities with an EEZ. The Tribune's erroneous reporting made it appear as though a staggering number of Missouri cities and towns had EEZs. It also made it appear Columbia was woefully alone in opposing EEZ.
And neither are her citizens, who fought blight -- and won -- against overwhelming odds that included the newspaper publishing partnership of Hank Waters and Vicki Russell.