Face The State Staff Report
DENVER — In the aftermath of a recent Face The State investigative report that revealed allegations of sexual misconduct against a Democrat state legislator, a veteran Rocky Mountain News reporter is now making accusations concerning Republican lawmakers.
In a Saturday morning email sent from Rocky reporter Lynn Bartels to Face The State managing editor Brad Jones, Bartels freely criticized Republicans. “From what I saw down [at the capitol], the GOP was the party that had a hard time keeping the goods inside their pants, with interns, with state paid aides, with fellow lawmakers,” she wrote, offering no specifics.
In the email, sent at 6:09 a.m. on Feb. 9, Bartels also criticized Jones for his comments in a Westword article concerning Face The State’s ability and decision to break a story concerning allegations made by a female lobbyist against Assistant House Majority Leader Michael Garcia, D-Aurora. The woman specifically accused Garcia of exposing himself to her while making lewd comments after a January fundraiser. Garcia resigned the morning after Face The State ran its report on the allegations.
In the Westword article, Jones described Face The State as “an online news source, not a blog. We separate our reporting from our opinion, we have a paid staff, and we take a proactive investigative stance.”
Bartels, also mentioned in the article, criticized Jones for his comments, saying “I must say I found this line in Westword’s article fascinating and quite frankly, as you well know, bullshit.”
In her rambling email to Jones, Bartels went on to criticize Face The State for its newsroom policies, including its use of non-bylined articles. She referred to one former Face The State employee as a “hatchet man.”
When Jones was asked about his organization's decision not to use bylines, he said, "Our stories are about the information contained in them, and not the individuals reporting them. Lynn should know that it's a standard practice for industry and political insider publications."
In her email, Bartels also boasted of her non-partisan commitment to revealing scandals. “As I tell people, the same week I broke the story about Joe Stengel bill for every day I broke the story about Deanna Hanna’s demands for reparations.” Stengel, a Republican, was forced to step down from his position as House Minority Leader in 2006 after it was revealed that he billed the state $99 a day for working while he was vacationing in Hawaii. Hanna, a Democrat, was forced to resign her Jefferson County Senate seat after a Realtors' association complained that she asked for $1,400 in "reparations" for the association's endorsement of her opponent.
Jones responded to Bartels by email, writing, “Lynn, thanks for your thoughtful, professional and articulate comments."
Bad judgment, Ms. Bartels
On February 15th, 2008 reggier says:
I am glad you posted her e-mail so I could read it in full context. Why any reporter would put something like that in writing is beyond me. Why would a professional journalist say any of that, much less put it in writing?
Bartels is among the best...
On February 13th, 2008 Another Jones says:
She's probably *the best* political reporter in Denver. Bartels has access. She has deep sources. She has history and experience. Bloggers are jealous of her. She consistently breaks important stories. She doesn't spare anyone her investigative eye. Remember, she wrote about ProgressNow's bitchslap double standard. She also broke the story of Coffman's ties to Diebold. Party affiliation doesn't dictate who she investigates.
There are some reporters who think that mere sexual innuendo is a newsworthy story. Some of those reporters work at the Rocky. Bartels is not one of those reporters. It's not her style to write about who's dating who, or who has a reputation for being a wolf, or who got drunk at a party. She wrote about Garcia because it was (and is) a big deal. Her editor blocked the piece, not her.
Mocking her message to you guys just shows what a petty bunch of amateurs you are. You probably don't understand this, but Bartels was showing you a measure of respect by being frank with you in an obviously private e-mail. If she didn't take you seriously, she wouldn't have bothered. You guys burned that off-the-record relationship by putting it on the record. Dummies.
Lynn you got played
On February 13th, 2008 Charerizer says:
c'mon Lynn, stop posting on FTS. Admit you're just jealous that this dorky bespectacled kid scooped your venerable ass on the biggest political story of the year that resulted in an instant resignation of golden boy #3 house demo! times are changing, and i'm tired of turning past five pages of furniture ads to find you going on some folksy rant. FTS is the future. outcompete or deal.
Bartels is nuts...but we already knew this!
On February 13th, 2008 sheblogger says:
Her articles make Denver look like a cowtown and the Rocky look like a small town paper. If she's so confident of her abilities in a competitive marketplace, why is she attacking the competition?
Bartles' e-mail
On February 13th, 2008 jameswilkonson says:
This e-mail is troubling... and shows that Lynn Bartles knows little of journalism's past and appears scared of its future.
The early papers of the last century -- during the Golden age of the newspapers in this country -- stories seldom carried bylines. And in the papers that were pivitol during the first decades of our republic, bylines were often pseydonyms. In fact, looking at the history of newspapers in the United States, bylines such as those that Lynn Bartles are so concerned about are a fairly recent invention.
As far as the future... newspapers are slowly dying out and publishers are trying like mad to come up with a business model to save the industry. What's taking their place are bloggers and web-based news sites. These new outlets may have agendas, but it doesn't make the news that comes from them any less accurate. There are several sites like Face the State popping up all over the country, each with their niche. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that model is far closer to the roots of original American journalism... some examples were the partsan -- and very successful -- papers as the Columbian Centinel in Boston, the Massachusetts Spy, The Connecticut Courant and Noah Webster’s daily Minerva.
Enough of my diatribe. It just bugs me to watch reporters unable to adjust to the times -- and lash out at a potential competitor.