Anyone who thinks that there’s a lack of a competitive attitude between the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin had better reconsider in light of the evidence.

Yesterday’s entry, in which a reader rose to the defense of the Star-Bulletin, has stirred up quite a fuss.

First came a “leak” of an earlier email exchange between Advertiser editor Mark Platte and Star-Bulletin editor Frank Bridgewater, copies of which have apparently been circulating:

On Jul 9, 2007, at 11:46 AM, Mark Platte wrote:

Hi Frank,
I have to say I was disappointed to read in the Bulletin’s July 5 editorial that you believe Bob Awana “planted a story” in the Advertiser on June 9. Yes, Bob Awana was quoted in the story and gave his version of events but in no way did he plant a story in our paper. That suggests we were sitting over here with no clue about the allegations until Bob came calling. I’m sure, given the nature of how things turned out, he would rather the story never have come out.

I have always considered you a fair and tough competitor but you’re off the mark on this one. I hope you’ll correct the misimpression that your editorial has given its readers.
Aloha,
Mark

——-

On 7/10/07 11:58 AM, “Frank Bridgewater” wrote:

Mark,
Our Editorial Department operates independently of, and separately from, the newsroom. Editorial writers say they based their opinion on that aspect of the issue after looking at all available information.
Frank
————–

On 7/10/07 at 1:58 PM Mark Platte wrote:

Frank,
It is a statement of fact written in an editorial and it is wrong. I would welcome anyone on your staff to produce proof that Bob Awana planted a story in The Advertiser. It simply cannot be substantiated and it does a disservice to our reporters.
Mark

Then Platte responded directly to yesterday’s entry with the following comments and description of the editorial decisions that had to be made:

Here is the Calcutta Telegraph’s original story:

Blackmail cuffs on IITian in US
New Delhi, May 28 (PTI): An Indian-born IITian, Rajadata A. Patkar, has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly blackmailing a top US official over a “sexual exploitation” row.

Rajadata has been in custody of US police since March 3 for allegedly blackmailing Bob Awana — the secretary to the governor of Hawaii — over the official’s alleged sexual exploitation of Jullie Mae, a Philippine national and the accused’s girlfriend.

Rajadata, says his family, was also the Japanese interpreter for late former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.

The allegation was that while working in Tokyo, Rajadata hacked into his girlfriend’s email from which he learnt of her alleged sexual exploitation by the US official. Subsequently, it was alleged that Rajadata started blackmailing Awana and reportedly pocketed about $4,000 dollars, a charge that he has denied.

In a habeas corpus petition filed before the Supreme Court on Monday, Rajadata’s mother Snehalata Patkar sought production of her son in India. She said her son’s arrest by US police on “false charges” was illegal and Rajadata being an Indian citizen can be tried only here for the alleged offence.

A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and D.K. Jain, however, rejected the petition saying it cannot give any directives to the US administration.

What reputable news organization would possibly print this unattributed information about the nature of the blackmail without extensive research? There is no document that mentions either sexual exploitation (and that could mean anything) or raises the name of Jullie Mae, who apparently, it turns out, is not even the woman Awana was allegedly involved with.

So we did what we do: we checked our sources and did not mention Awana’s affair until we could substantiate it to our satisfaction. That is why our first story did not contain those details. We have never mentioned sexual exploitation because nobody can define it.

Your reader complains about our story being sloppy with a single source but would have us lift information from a publication that identifies no source for its information. Is your reader suggesting we print allegations from another newspaper (with a far different set of reporting standards) about
“sexual exploitation” against a woman by a top state official (and married man) without extensive reporting first?

What kind of journalism is that?

As for the editorial, the fact remains that the Bulletin has nothing to back up its assertion that Bob Awana “planted” a story in our paper because it is fiction.

The loose language in the editorial might have something to do with the fact that the Bulletin did not run a story on Awana until June 13, four days after our initial story. In the Bulletin’s story, there is no mention of sexual exploitation, affairs or Jullie Mae. That bit of information didn’t quite make it into their editorial.

Thanks,
Mark

I have to give Platte lots of credit for his readiness to go to bat for his reporters and willingness to go public in defense of their work.

Finally, I got around to checking with Rick Daysog, the former Star-Bulletin reporter, now at the Advertiser, who had gotten the original tip. Contrary to my suggestion yesterday that he could have received an e-mail message similar to the one that went to a Maui newspaper, Daysog said his tip came from another source and referred without specifics to a criminal case pending in federal court involving a government official in Hawaii and an Indian national with an unusual name. Daysog said he then spent days searching through cases filed in Honolulu’s federal court, gave up at least once, then returned to the work of slogging through the details until he finally hit paydirt. After the extended basic digging, he bristles at the accusation by his former colleagues at the Star-Bulletin that his story was “planted”.

And on a more neutral topic, it’s yet another Feline Friday and I’m celebrating with a few more of the home team. Mr. Toby decided to strut his stuff this week, as did a few of the other cats.

I included one photo of Silverman and Romeo which is a bit blurry but captures a bit of their interaction.

In any case, just click on the photo to see this week’s cats.