Re: “Tussle on school grounds,” Aug. 7 news story.
The headline to this story is an insult to the electorate, suggesting a childish squabble on the playground. Yet, the in-depth, front-page news report about Denver Public Schools financing in The New York Times, written by a highly respected Pulitzer Prize-winning financial journalist, could hardly be further from The Post’s characterization.
Interestingly, The Post never once stated the title of the Times news story, instead fretting over candidate reaction to the nearly 3,000-word story and ignoring its disturbing content.
The New York Times story was not even mentioned in the print Denver Post on Friday. Then, the Saturday Post addressed only political implications for the Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate, about candidate “sparring” over the content of ads.
The Post story reads as if the report on DPS’s ill-advised financial deals was merely an allegation by Andrew Romanoff. In reality, questions about public fiscal judgment arise from the details in The New York Times — not, as The Post implies, from campaign ads.
The Post story conveniently glosses over the substantive public policy issues, and fails to inform Colorado readers of facts of major local significance, which were deemed by The New York Times to have national significance. Even the local TV news treated this as a major news story.
The Times story at the very least raised complex issues of fiscal accountability to taxpayers — independent of any current political campaigns. In so doing, the Times story did lead readers to ask questions about the kind of public fiscal judgments that Michael Bennet has exercised.
Fair-minded journalism would have at least informed readers of the New York Times story’s headline, “Exotic deals put Denver schools deeper in debt.” The Times story shows how investigative reporting is vital to democracy, in provoking serious public discussion and investigation.
The Denver Post’s treatment of this major news story was more than insulting. It warrants discussion as a case study of journalism ethics.
Christiane H. Citron of Denver is an attorney and education policy analyst.
