Press office email. Editor Sill column

This post contains full-text copies of two documents. One is an email sent by the press office of North Carolina Governor Michael Easley to The Raleigh News & Observer’s executive editor for news Melanie Sill. The other is a column Sill wrote for News & Observer readers following her receipt of the email.

The email became public three weeks after Sill wrote her column.

The documents are provided as a service for anyone interested in contemporary American journalism.

Governor Easley’s press office can be reached at: governor.office@ncmail.net

Editor Sill can be reached at: msill@newsobserver.com
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Email sent Aug. 9, 2005 from Cari Boyce, Governor’s press office to Melanie Sill, executive editor for news at Raleigh’s News & Observer.

Thank you for your recent call to our office about the Governor’s availability to reporters at the News & Observer. Specifically, it is my understanding that you are writing a column on “public officials who will not take or answer questions about public policy matters.” You cited, as an example, Barbara Barrett’s recent story on pardons and clemency.

In the past month, the Governor has had at least six public events in the Raleigh area where he has been available and has made public comments about a variety of issues. The News & Observer staff has been made aware of these events and they have all been open to your reporters. As you and your reporters know, the Press Office staff routinely works with reporters who would like to ask “off-topic” questions at public events and attempt to accommodate them whenever possible. For example, Matthew Eisley spoke with the Governor regarding the bonds for the N.C. Art Museum at last Thursday’s Bill of Rights ceremony. Furthermore, Ms. Barrett was also at the event and had the same opportunity to ask the Governor questions as did Mr. Eisley.

Ms. Barrett contacted the Press Office requesting an interview for her story on pardons mid-afternoon on Monday and claimed that she had a Wednesday deadline. She was given all the information that she requested about the process and the status of the cases in question. Subsequent questions also were answered after her stated deadline. Because of the ongoing negotiations with the legislature over the budget, the Governor’s schedule simply did not permit a one-on-one interview with her.

Other than Ms. Barrett, I am not aware of any recent requests by reporters at your paper for interviews with the Governor on any topic. Your assertion that the Governor does not comment on “public policy matters” is simply not accurate.

The Governor’s Press Office will continue to accommodate media requests when appropriate but it will continue to be done in balance with the other responsibilities and scheduling demands of the Governor. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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Editor Melanie Sill’s column, Aug. 9, 2005

Governor's position? No comment

Accurate news reporting depends on information from first-hand, knowledgeable sources. That’s why The N&O’s reporting is hampered when people who are the principal players in news stories say “no comment’ or refuse to be interviewed. When those people are public officials, the interest of an informed public is seriously harmed.

Many public officials show endless patience in providing information and answering questions, but a growing list seems comfortable adopting no comment as standard practice.

The latest example is Gov. Mike Easley’s absence from a story by Barbara Barrett on Sunday. Barrett was writing about several former convicts whose sentences had been overturned, now waiting for Easley to decide on their requests for “pardons of innocence.” Barrett’s requests for an interview with Easley were denied, and official spokespeople provided little real information. In the end, we were not able to answer the obvious question about why the governor (who has sole authority under the constitution to issue pardons) had not acted on the requests.

Other examples abound. Public information officers who don’t return phone calls. Police chiefs and sheriffs who won’t answer questions about their agencies and whose officers won’t provide information that’s supposed to be public. Large state agencies that funnel all requests to a single person, a person who usually doesn’t have the knowledge required to answer questions.

In June, Raleigh Police Chief Jane Perlov refused to be interviewed by The N&O after the departure of several officers from the force amid reports that they had failed to respond to routine police calls in North Raleigh. She authorized a prepared statement.

In July, news broke that during his time as Kansas head coach, UNC basketball coach Roy Williams had approved gifts from team supporters to players who had graduated or used up their eligibility, a violation of NCAA regulations. Williams wouldn’t talk to N&O reporters; instead, he released a statement. After repeated requests for comment, he relayed brief responses to a couple of questions through a spokesman back to The N&O. Williams is one of North Carolina’s highest-paid state employees based just on his $260,000-plus university salary (a fraction of his total pay).

Early this year, N.C. State football Coach Chuck Amato wouldn’t grant us an interview — on the phone or in person — after three assistant coaches resigned. N.C. State released a statement in early January from Amato, who continued to be unavailable, at least for interviews with The N&O. A week later, we sent a reporter to track Amato down at a meeting in Kentucky for a few minutes, just to get some basic questions answered. This wasn’t a “gotcha’ kind of story, just normal reporting about the ups and downs of a high-dollar public athletic program. The coach was a principal source, or should have been.

If you’re a media basher, you might cheer this behavior. But public officials who won’t discuss issues central to their public responsibilities are dissing you, the public, not The N&O. (They brush off other news outlets as well).

We’re asking the kinds of questions readers often ask in online forums, letters to the editor and notes or calls to The N&O. "Why was this done? Why WASN’T this done? " We can do a better job of reporting – more accurate, complete and fair – when people who know the answers decide to comment rather than give the cold shoulder to reporters.

Which brings us back to Easley. Governors have many official duties, and we don’t expect Easley to be available for interviews on every story. (He should have people who can represent his administration’s positions). But a quick survey of this newsroom brought his name back repeatedly for being unavailable to answer questions about a number of policy matters: Overweight trucks on North Carolina highways, for instance. The transfer of state land to Currituck County, a big political fight earlier this year involving Easley and Sen. Marc Basnight.

In April, Andy Curliss, who covers the governor’s office, asked to interview Easley about one of his pet issues, the state lottery. The request was declined. Sure, the governor is busy. But doesn’t his job involve explaining his thinking on major public policy like a state lottery?

While working on this column, I sought to hear Easley’s side of things. I put in a request to interview the governor or his representative on Monday afternoon, noting I was on deadline. The response? No interview with the governor or anyone else. Instead, I received a lengthy email statement from Cari Boyce in the governor’s press office saying that our reporters are free to chase down the governor at public events (as they do as often as they can) and ask him questions.

Thanks, Ms. Boyce, but that’s not what I asked.
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