Web site targeting local politics shut down

Here is an article posted by Yvonne Mintz of The Facts, a weekly African American newspaper, that discuss the case of Steve Olafson a.k.a Banjo Jones in violating the journalist’s Code of Ethics through the use of the World Wide Web. At the end of this article, you are required to answer some questions that will help you analyze the importance of this article.

Web site targeting local politics shut down
By: Yvonne Mintz

The Facts
Published July 26, 2002


For more than a year, Steve Olafson, the Houston Chronicle's Brazoria County reporter, kept an online diary criticizing elected officials and commenting on local politics.

While alter-ego "Banjo Jones" wrote unabashed commentary about local businesses, government and Brazoria County newsmakers on a Web site, Olafson covered some of the same issues for The Chronicle.

The Web site, which often lambasted The Facts and even took digs at the Chronicle, was shut down Tuesday.

"When we learned about the Web site and Steve's involvement with it, we asked him to take it down," said Jeff Cohen, the Chronicle's executive vice president and editor.

Contacted at his Lake Jackson home Wednesday, Olafson declined comment.

Opinions vary among local officials about whether Olafson did anything wrong. But journalism ethics analysts said the Web site posed a clear conflict that could hurt Olafson's credibility.
Cohen would not comment on whether Olafson's involvement in the Web site violated the Chronicle's code of ethics or whether any action would be taken against Olafson.

"I can't talk to you about how we handle violations of policy because we would not discuss that externally," Cohen said.

Olafson continues in his capacity as a Chronicle reporter, Cohen said.

Cohen, who took the Chronicle helm six weeks ago after holding the same position at the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, did not know how the Web site was constructed or whether Olafson used a Chronicle computer and Internet account to create the Web site. He said he was unaware of anyone at the Chronicle who knew of the Web site before Tuesday.

One man's soap box

The site, brazosportnews.blogspot.com, debuted in May 2001 as one man's soap box, the place for views on local issues that were frequently scathing, often humorous. The site quickly gained a following, and people soon wondered about the identity of its writer, Banjo Jones.

That identity became public after a local newsmaker, who had been criticized on the Web site, delivered information to The Facts outing Olafson as Banjo Jones. That newsmaker asked to remain anonymous.

Before it disappeared, there were entries on the Web site where Olafson discussed Chronicle stories, written by himself and others.

The Web site's "reader survey" named District Attorney Jeri Yenne the best elected official in Brazoria County. Commenting on reasons for her popularity on the Web site June 27, Olafson, as Banjo Jones, referred to his own Chronicle story about Yenne.

"The Chronicle did a glowing article on her last Sunday, so maybe that's influencing the vote," the Web site read.

The Web site also mentioned Yenne's success in prosecuting the Lake Jackson Woodhollow Apartments fire murder case, a trial Olafson covered for the Chronicle.

Also on June 27, the Web site criticized the Chronicle's placement of a story about the "Women of Enron" in Playboy, saying that putting the story on the front page contradicted the writer's apparent disdain of the media attention the pictures garnered. And on the Web site, Olafson skewered the Chronicle's Washington columnist for buying a fur once owned by Katharine Graham, the late Washington Post publisher.

"It's good to know the Chronicle's man in Washington is sniffing out the important stories we buy his paper for," the Web site read.

No secret attacks

Fred Brown Jr., past president of the Society of Professional Journalists and the organization's former national ethics chairman, said all reporters have biases, but "a good reporter never lets them show."

"You are not supposed to secretly attack the people you are trying to cover in an objective manner," Brown said. "It's not just damaging to the reporter, it's damaging to the newspaper's credibility."

In fact, a Statement of Professional Principles adopted by the Chronicle's parent company, Hearst Newspapers, states that employees should avoid active involvement in community issues or organizations "to the extent that their participation might cause the paper's objectivity to come into question," according to the statement posted on the American Society of Newspaper Editors Web site.

Don Heider, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, said the Web site could have a "devastating effect" on Olafson's relationships with sources.

"I don't think there's any way you could go back to some of those sources that you've been writing scathing material about and expect them to treat you the same way," Heider said.
Many reporters freelance, and some media outlets allow reporters to write opinion page commentary, Heider said. Combining those with anonymity causes a problem, Heider said.
"If a reporter wanted to put a Web site up with their name on it and publish what they thought and let people know it was them, I think that's a whole different question as to whether you go on anonymously and sort of become the tattletale of the county," Heider said.

Before knowing the writer's identity, John Toth, owner and publisher of The Bulletin, asked to run some of the columns in his Angleton-based weekly newspaper.

Toth, who covered Brazoria County for the Chronicle for 12 years before Olafson took the job in 1995, published the Web site's commentary on the Lake Jackson golf course saga and State Sen. J.E. "Buster" Brown's interim report, a newsletter sent to households in Brown's district.
But Toth got permission by e-mail to run the columns in his free publication and didn't know Olafson was the writer, he said.

"I e-mailed him an offer to run exclusively in The Bulletin, and I would pay him for it," Toth said. "I was wondering why he didn't take me up on it."

Toth started The Bulletin while he covered Brazoria County for the Chronicle. He also did a weekly radio commentary show. In both cases, however, Toth received prior approval from editors and used his own name, he said.

"I would have run that past my boss," Toth said. "Being a reporter is different than being a Dow operator where you get off at 5 o'clock and you still do what you want. Being a reporter has a different burden."

Some good commentary

Ethical questions aside, many said they would miss the Web site.

Yenne said the site was good political satire. And "Banjo Jones" took some digs at her, too, she said, recalling his depiction of her reveling in a former opponent's primary election defeat while eating "a big box of sweet and chewy chocolate bon bons."

"Do I forfeit all my rights to say what I think because I'm a public official or because I'm a reporter?" she asked. "I don't think so."

Toth said he enjoyed the column and would miss its "semi-sarcastic" tone.
"You really don't get that too much in this area," Toth said. "I don't think those columns did any harm. It was just fun to read."

District Judge Robert May read the Brazosport News and speculated about its author, but was never mentioned there and would not have guessed Banjo was Olafson.

"Even though he certainly has a First Amendment right to do it, he may have to pay the price with his employer," May said.

Still, May admired the writing."This revealed he had a keen political sense," May said. "He ought to write a novel."



On the side of this blog site is a link wherein you can find a quiz entitled "Aprille's Quiz" Please click on the link found on the side of this site and answer the following questions provided. Choose the best answer and give whatever is needed and asked by the website.

You may also click this link to access the quiz.

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=0910141304513955&a=1&

Thank You. :)

Quiz Questions

1. Given the INETHICS or the Internet Code of Ethics, what do you think is the main ethical violation of Steve Olafson?

a. Distributes truthful information only.
b. Seeks the purity of the native language.
c. Plagiarism
d. Creates in people stronger trust in Internet

2. In above article, it is said that Steve Olafson is a respected ______ and at the same time, he is ______.

a. A news reporter … a sports reporter
b. A news reporter … a blogger
c. A journalist … a professor
d. A professional journalist

3. What name did he use in running his warmly-regarded pseudonymous Brazosport News blog?

a. Benjie Blue
b. Banjie Jones
c. Banjo Jones
d. Bravo Jones

4. In this article, it is said that many reporters freelance, and some media outlets allow reporters to write opinion page commentary. Given this statement, what makes it a big problem for Steve Olafson to criticize in his blog?

a. He used harsh words in his blog articles.
b. Being anonymous is what makes it a big problem.
c. He posted unpleasant photos in his blog site.
d. He showed disrespectfulness in his blog articles.

5. According to the journalism ethics analysts, what would Steve Olafson lose as a respected news reporter in violating the journalism code of ethics?

a. Credibility
b. Integrity
c. Responsibility
d. Rewards

SCOREBOARD
Aprille's Quiz

1 JOHN REY L. ATIENZA 100
2 april celis 100
3 TOLENTINO, J. K. R. 100
4 Joren G. Paulino 100
5 Reynald 60
6 jessica davila 40
7 Maria Nerizza Acero 40
8 alyssaborromeo 20