We wish SJ Mercury News VP and Editorial Page Editor David Yarnold a fond farewell. He’ll be missed.
Thanks to an intrepid San Jose Inside reader, we bring you the message he sent to the newsroom:
From: Yarnold, David
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 11:23 AM
To: EDIT ALL; OPCOM+DIRECTORS
Subject: Goodbye…and thanks
To: Newsroom staff
From: David Yarnold
After nearly 27 wonderful years at the Mercury News, I’m leaving to take on a new challenge.
I’m going to become Executive Vice President of Environmental Defense in New York. Joining one of the nation’s most accomplished and respected environmental advocacy non-profits at this level offers me a daunting, tantalizing, steep learning curve and an opportunity that will stretch me in new and unanticipated ways.
After all, there aren’t many jobs left for me to do at the Mercury News. Thanks to an incredibly supportive series of mentors and supervisors here and at Knight Ridder, I’ve served in nearly every newsroom role, from copy editor to executive editor. That kind of flexibility and acceptance of change remains a hallmark of this newspaper.
Not that George Riggs has made this easy. George offered me several, creative new options. In the end, though, I’ve concluded that I’ve had a great run and I’m ready to move on. It’s always hard to know when that time has come and I’ve struggled with this decision because of my deep affection for the Mercury News. But it’s a decision I’ve come to with passion and clarity. My last day will be Monday, April 4.
As I look back on these rich years, it’s easy to point to the achievement I hold most dear: Your development and progress as individual journalists and as a newspaper devoted to its community. I can’t walk through the newsroom and see each of you without recalling a hiring conversation or a return from a maternity leave or a sensational story, photograph, illustration, design or headline. When I step back, I see a newspaper that demonstrates its commitment to a diverse community and a leadership team, headed by Susan Goldberg, that is unafraid of the bold changes needed to succeed in the years ahead.
When the judges in the international Society of News Design competition named us one of the world’s five best designed papers and called us, “America’s boldest…newspaper,” I knew it was time to step away, leaving the next level of achievement to others. Why? Because it’s important for any progressive newspaper to engage in constant self-renewal.
That’s what I’m doing, too. Fran, Nicole and I look at the years ahead in New York as a marvelous adventure at a time when it would be all too easy to settle in. We’ll be reunited with my son, Adam, with Fran’s mother and brother and his family, including a bunch of cousins for Nicole to be close to.
There truly are no words to express my thanks to all of you who have made this journey so worthwhile. Your successes ring out - and make me proud.
David
Thank God, he’s Gone.
Strike one more potential San Jose Mayoral hopeful.
Why would anyone leave the most powerful position in San Jose to become V.P. of a liberal New York nonprofit, especially during this administration? Talk about a challenge.
You just made AG Gonzelez’s “do not let fly list”, if you hadn’t already made Ashcroft’s “do not let fly list”.
Moreovr, if you thought San Jose’s City Government was “corrupt”, wait until you get a close-up look at politics in New York.
David, one must admire your idealism and courage. I believe we can now expect the East River and Hudson Bay to be cleaned up by the end to the year or at the very least we shall see a complete list of all polluters in New York on the front page of the NY Times.
In all seriousness good luck, you will be missed in San Jose—with the possible exception of a few unindicted coconspirators in local city government.
David Yarnold was the finest example of a newspaperman that we have seen at the Mercury in a long time. He was not afraid to make an important enemy in the service of the truth and the improvement of our political environment – he cared about our City and this Valley. I have not had a feeling of sorrow at the exiting of a local leader since Tony Ridder left 20 years ago. Perhaps, like Tony, he will return. I hope so. TMcE
Nice guy? Didn’t know him.
Fair and balanced newspaper? Absolutely not.
We have enough drunks downtown. Now the city wants us killed by more drunk drivers.
Downtown is already unsafe for PEDESTRIANS.
MOVE OUT OF THIS CITY; GONZALES IS RUINING SAN JOSE.
David will be missed. Hopefully his replacement will continue the path that David travelled. We, as a city, cannot afford to return to the earlier days when the Mercury ignored most of what was happening at Silly Hall.
let’s take a poll
Probably not as long as Cindy is in office.
Stan/Frank,
Do you really think your favorite cable news channel is “fair and balanced” like they claim to be?
At least the Merc doesn’t make blatantly hypocritical statements like that about itself.
I will say the Merc does a good job locally. but when it comes to state, national, … they don’t even try to balance their reporting. But then why should the merc differ in this regard than 95% of the media outlets in the US?
I’m sure there are a lot of people in City Hall breathing a huge sigh of relief with word of Yarnold’s departure.
The question is: will the Merc have the guts to replace Yarnold with someone of similar fire and commitment?
Make no mistake, Yarnold stepped on a lot of powerful toes. Let’s see what the Merc does now.
Does “unbalanced” reporting mean the facts don’t square with your opinion? Good journalism requires one to gather information from a variety of sources, assemble it into a coherent piece and report that collection of information. It is not unbalanced because you disagree with it. It is unbalanced when information is gathered from limited sources or just government sources and then reported as fact.
It is humorous to read the writer’s statement about why should the Merc differ from 95% of the media outlets in the U.S. That’s a good example of “unbalanced” reporting. Can you back it up with facts? I doubt it.
Get your news from as many sources as possible and then you make an educated determination of “fair and balanced.”
You’re right – from now on, I’m getting my news from the NY Times, LA Times, SF Chronicle, the Mercury News, MSNBC, KRON, CNN, ABC, CBS, PBS. From those sources I’ll surely be able to form well reasoned, educated opinions.
There seems to be a lack of understanding between the news pages and the editorial pages of a newspaper. Editorials, by definition, are an opinion. Just because you don’t like someone’s opinion does not make it bad journalism. Certainly, the news portion of the paper should be objective but the editorial pages should reflect educated opinion. Under David, the Merc editorial pages finally found a spine and shed light on the many misdeeds that would still be going on if they had not shone the light on them. Since the citizens of SJ have not done a very good job of “watch dogging” we are lucky the Mercury has risen to the occasion. Let’s hope they continue.
Mr. Blaine,
You are correct that by definition, editorials are something different than the news pages. This is and should be the case for all any respectable news organization. The problem arises when editorial thinking leaches into the news pages, which is what happens with “watchdog” publications, giving them an agenda that on the whole, is not objective.
Rick,
Here’s a challenge (and be honest)… can you name:
– more than 1 national television news outlet that doesn’t have a leftward lean to it?
– Same question for the widely circulated newspapers.
– Can you name 1 journalism school that doesn’t have a leftward lean?
Kinda tough to do isn’t it?
>> There seems to be a lack of understanding between the news pages and the editorial pages of a newspaper.
All you Fox News bashers pay attention to what Rick just said – O’Reilly and Hannity/Colmes are not news – they are editorial types.
Hopefully the next person to hold this position will steer the Merc towards objective reporting. A publication that takes a “watchdog” stance on issues only exists to foster conflict, in an attempt to sell a product. This type of stance is counterproductive to local government, and breeds a combative public… all in the name bolstering its own circulation.
I am sure there is no response I can give that you will agreee with, so we can just look at the world of news and information differently.
As for Fox News, the problem with them is they call it “Fox News” not “Fox Editorials.” When opinion is presented as factual news they are no longer a news organization.
C’mon Rick. Neither CNN’s capital gang nor do Judy Woodruff’s daily hit piece carry an editorial tag. How about Chris Matthews. Every channel has their foodfight news shows.
The problem is with the supposedly ‘straight’ news. The mainstream media wants Iraq to be Vietnam and they want Bush to be Nixon so badly they can taste it.
Courage!
http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=7080736&tid=amtd&sid=7080736&mid=154998
Stan,
The right-wing has created this idea that all news orgs are liberally biased as a defense mechanism. Anytime they are criticized, they can blow it off as “liberal bias.”
Ask Bill Clinton how pro Democrat the mainstream media was during his low days. The media is not guilty of being biased as acused. They are not liberally biased, they just go after whomever is in charge at the time. That’s the “watchdog” element that I don’t care for, and it goes both ways. Certainly you can conceded that?
Kevin-
Would you prefer a lapdog press to a watchdog?
In the case of the Mercury News where, exactly, do you find fault with the recent reporting?
I’m sure there are people in the City Manager’s office who agree the Mercury was too much of a watchdog when it stuck its nose into the Cisco contract. Terry Gregory probably wishes the watchdog had also stayed on the porch when he got caught shaking down businessmen in his district. The cost over runs for the new City Hall? You can bet there are a lot of folks who wish that information never saw the light of day. Darn that watchdog!
The watchdog role is an important function of journalism. When you suggest that such factual reporting lacks objectivity you confuse objectivity with sensitivity. The journalist’s job is not to make us feel good, it is to give us the information we need to be informed citizens.
Thanks to the slanted (Oh I’m sorry—progressive) reporting and editorializing of the Mercury News, the citizens of San Jose have been left with the impression that their police department engaged in the practice of what is now known as racial profiling. This despite the fact that when the controversy first erupted on a national scale there wasn’t one in a hundred cops that had ever heard of such a thing.
But the truth didn’t matter to the Merc, which chose to hype every self-serving statement and allegation uttered by the local NAACP president, along with those made by the scoundrels in local government who quickly got themselves in line for some reparation promotions and assignments. Not once, not by a print reporter nor TV microphone holder, was a demand made for evidence or verification of these very serious allegations. The press simply nodded enthusiastically before the local Gods of Diversity, took their notes, then went public with allegations that constituted a kick in the stomach to the thousand plus dedicated men and women of the police department.
Where, I ask, was Mr. Yarnold then? Why wasn’t the damn story—and yes, there was a story—presented factually? I’ll tell you why: because the truth wasn’t to the liking of progressives. For the Merc and the rest of the Diversity First media, the fraud was too good to be held back by the truth. There were all those great, heart-tugging anecdotes to publish; allegations by sincere-looking black people against white men in power. Gee, it was almost like being back in Selma.
To date, there has been not one shred of evidence offered to support the charges: not one documented case, no victims, racist training memos, rogue supervisor, nothing to support the branding of the police as racists. If motorists, of any color or gender, had been victimized there should have been a traffic court full of complainants. But, to date, not one person has materialized. Can you imagine that? With the hundreds of thousand of contacts each year not one case has emerged! Now that something worth reporting!
Nonetheless, what we have now is a police department accused, race statistics being compiled for a cowering chief, and a great bunch of brave professionals operating under suspicion and with their backs to the wall.
Ten thousand fewer car stops were made in the year following the big scam, but I don’t remember Mr. Yarnold’s paper printing that. How many dangerous criminals escaped detection, or went ignored (visit the transit mall) because of the garbage served-up by the media? Now that is an accomplishment to be proud of, if you hate your city.
Yes, it seems that the Merc did catch Mr. Gregory with his hand in the till. Rookie stuff. Not exactly a crafty operator (perhaps Al “deposit slip” Garza was his mentor). But, all in all, the Merc does more harm than good by acting like a liberal college rag and misleading its readers.
Violent crime is picking-up again—especially gang-related assaults. Virtually all of the gang members belong to the groups now being insulated from enforcement due to the profiling data collection program. Maybe they will visit your neighborhood soon, or your child’s school. Maybe they’ll drive by a half-dozen cops on the way—cops that know better than to risk stopping too many of any one kind; cops that are, well, I guess, becoming progressive.
Ed,
Certainly none of us would like to see the Merc become a “lapdog” publication, and thank you for pointing that out.
Sometimes, like in the Terry Gregory case, it is good that news organizations uncover wrong doings. In other cases, such as the Cisco-City Hall “scandal”, the media greatly exaggerates issues to create a story.
Recently, we have seen the Merc lean favorably towards circulation goals over public enlightenment. Case in point is the lawsuit filed by the Merc to gain information from the City about the salaries of City employees. The only reason they would request this information is to create conflict, and in turn, sell more newspapers.
Fortunately, a news publication does not have to be “either/or”. The Merc has been very good at being objective, until the last 2 years or so. My hope is that the new position holder does not steer the organization towards antagonism in the hopes of bolstering the paper’s bottom line.
Unfortunately for San Jose residents, the editorial board’s idea of disclosure ends in a filing cabinet in the city clerk’s office. This might be fine for Mercury News reporters but for most of us the push for more disclosure by the editorial board is meaningless. Take a look at the city of San Jose’s web site. Can you find out who donated to your councilmember in the last election? Sorry, nothing on the web site. Can you see any of the new reports from lobbyists mentioned in today’s editorial ? Sorry, nothing on the web site for you.
The city thought it necessary to put information on the web site for lobbyists on how to comply with the new rules. As you can guess there is absolutely no information for residents on how to access the information disclosed by lobbyists. We all need to ask our elected leaders when the information be on the city’s web site in a easy to access, searchable format.
The Merc “greatly exaggerated” the Cisco story?
That’s an interesting way of looking at it! Personally I have a problem with city government letting a favored vendor write the specs for a contract that only allows for that vendor’s products, and then covering it up during a follow-up investigation.
The lawsuit regarding public employees salaries is similar to suits being filed by news organizations throughout the country to block a new trend by local governments to try to keep municipal salaries from taxpayer’s view. The salaries paid to public officials is a legitimate issue of public interest to the citizens who foot the bill for those salaries. To suggest that a news organization’s attempts to report such informaiton is done only to “create conflict” and “sell newspapers” seems fairly cynical when you look at the larger issues involved.
I am sad to see Yarnold go. He wanted to address higher education issues at San Jose State and worked for student issues. I am starting a blog on San Jose State issues at http://www.spartanblog.blogspot.com
One of the best things we saw in Yarnold was an interest in higher education issues and an acceptance of the need for students to participate at San Jose State.
James Rowen
http://www.spartanblog.blogspot.com
(san jose state issues blog)
Kevin,
– the media doesn’t have a “progressive” agenda
– media bias is simply a fabrication of the “vast right wing”
Are dogs that will not hunt.
Any cursory glance at the political demographics of US media and the journalism schools that they came from would show as much.
And you think the media’s world view isn’t going to influence what get’s reported and how? Ay caramba!
What is biased and unbelievable is to think that the Merc somehow “greatly exagerated” the Cisco fiasco. There are many places to get information on this, including folks at City Hall who have had to remain silent for fear of reprisals from higher ups. If anything, the Merc stopped too soon on this story. There is much more than has been reported. Those of us who pay taxes should be thanking the Merc for bringing this and other abuses to light. To say the Merc does this just to sell papers is simply to be uninformed.
Read more, Rick Blaine. Read more to understand.
finfan,
The Merc picked up the “racial profiling” issue not because they have a progressive agenda, but because they want to create conflict to sell more newspapers. If a journalist can raise concern, fear, or anger, people will want to read. The race card envokes all of these emotions.
Ed,
Yes, the Merc greatly exaggerated the Cisco story. The points you make about the case are taken straight out of the newspaper. They now have you believing their hype. And you will go out and buy more of their newspapers, just to follow their story, all the while believing that they are in the business for you.
I really hope that some day the masses will wake up to the media’s scheme. They do not have a liberal bias, nor do they have the integrity to look out for the common good. They are not trying to inform the public of wrong doings. They are a private, for-profit entity. Everything, EVERYTHING they do, is done to sell a product.
OK Kevin,
If you think the independent investigator’s conclusions that support the Merc’s findings, the firings/resignations/demotions of some of the people involved AND a re-write of some of the city’s ethics rules to prevent a recurrence add up to a “great exaggeration” and a lot of “hype” then…by golly…this is one BIG “scheme” they’ve put over us “masses”!
Either that or it’s a little simpler…the Merc got it right, did it’s job and reported the news.
Now…which seems more plausible?
Kevin,
Check out http://secure.mediaresearch.org/news/MediaBiasBasics.html#IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
Quite a long piece but the best part are the quotes.
Do a search on IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
to jump there, (IE has a problem doing so with the above URL)
Kevin- No one’s “dragging your words way out of proportion.’ They are, after all, YOUR WORDS. Either you can back your assertions with facts…or you can’t.
People, people. You are dragging my words way out of proportion.
Stan, no, the media does not have a progressive agenda, at least no more progressive than the general views of the American public. And the right-wing that is perpetuating this idea is certainly not vast; it is a slim minority of news organizations. So I ask you, who has labeled all the journalism schools as having a progressive agenda? Why do you believe that they do? Could it possibly be influence from neo-con pundits?
Which is more likely:
1) There is an underground political minority that has hijacked EVERY educational institution in America, and they have brain-washed everyone in the media to follow their political line, or
2) A few political pundits have found an opportunity to exploit the media and label anyone within who reports non-favorable stories to their political views as “progressive radicalists” ?
The idea that journalists are part of some radical progressive ploy is just as silly as claiming that all Supreme Court Judges are America-hating extremists.
Rick, Ed,
I never claimed that the Cisco incident was not a series of mistakes. It was. But the reporting from the local media would have us believe that it was all part of a big master plan to rip off taxpayers and commit crimes. That was not at all the case, if you look at it objectively.
The most anyone was guilty of were violations of public information and bidding-process rules. As far as higher-ups threatening harm to anyone who disclosed information, where did you hear about that? The Merc, perhaps?
Those who were guilty of breaking the rules should have been punished. However, the firings, demotions, and re-writing of ethics rules were all pacifications to deal with the public outrage over the issue, fueled by the local media.