As part of its PR push for its redesigned newspaper, the Rocky sent pastries to the KOA newsroom, trying, as KOA’s Mike Rosen put it, “to curry favor with us in the broadcast medium.” Ironically, reporters at the Rocky probably wouldn’t be able to accept pastries if sent to them by a PR firm, due to the newspaper’s ethics policies. Yet the Rocky felt okay about sending the sweets to KOA.

A few days before the 3,000^th U.S. soldier died in Iraq, America reached another major milestone there. The number of U.S. deaths in the war exceeded the number of casualties in the 9-11 tragedy.
This milestone deserved front-page treatment, but it was completely ignored by the Post.
The Rocky Mountain News ran an Associated Press article, noting that “there has not been any credible evidence linking Iraq to the 9-11 attacks” but that “President Bush has said that the Iraq war is part of the United States’ post-Sept. 11 approach to threats abroad.”

In an interview about gay marriage last spring, Bob Beauprez’s newly minted running mate Janet Rowland said, “For some people, the alternative lifestyle is bestiality…-do we allow a man to marry a sheep? I mean, at some point, you have to draw a line”
 

In describing Rowland’s quote and other portions of the interview, the Rocky Mountain News reported (Aug. 15) that Rowland was “comparing” homosexuality to bestiality.
 

I heard Dan Caplis on KHOW trying to explain that, really, Rowland wasn’t “comparing” homosexuality to bestiality.
 

Is “compare” a fair characterization for a journalist to use, or was Rowland simply listing sexual acts that she considers beyond the pale?
 

She was definitely comparing bestiality and homosexuality.
 

After all, Rowland implied that homosexuality is heading down a slippery slope to bestiality and other nasty stuff, and though she was not “equating” the two, she was comparing them…-as in homosexuality is closer to bestiality than heterosexuality.
 

To avoid controversies about whether a characterization is fair, journalists should avoid them, whenever possible.

But often journalists must summarize a quotation, due to space or time considerations. Rowland’s quote was accurately characterized by the News.

In my Aug. 5 column, I wrote that Denver’s Fox 31 is the only major media outlet that DOES NOT provide email addresses for reporters on its web site.

Other outlets do provide this information, and people should take advantage of it and contact reporters with story ideas or criticisms. The Rocky provides the most detailed contact info.

Click on the outlet below to find the direct contact information for journalists.

Rocky

Denver Post

Channel 2

Channel 4

Channel 7

Channel 9

Fox 31

An electric power cooperative recently paid a global warming critic $100,000 to serve as a consultant.

Intermountain Rural Electric Association general manager Stanley Lewandowski sent a letter July 17 to at least 50 utilities urging them to “stand up” against global warming “alarmists,” according to the Denver Post and, later, the Rocky Mountain News.

The Real Climate blog noticed that Lewandowski’s July 17 letter contained sections that were nearly identical to a June 9 column by Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Rosen. Colorado Media Matters posted a nice chart Aug. 1 comparing Lewandowski’s memo to Rosen’s column.

So, did Lewandowski crib from Rosen or vice versa?

In a phone interview Wed., Rosen told me that he was unaware of the controversy about the Lewandowski letter, and Rosen said he did not see a draft of Lewandowski’s July 17 lettter prior to writing his June 9 column.