Monday, March 16, 2009

A Look Back At Former N&O'er Dennis Rogers

Former Raleigh N&O columnist Dennis Rogers has left an angry comment containing a number of falsehoods on the thread of JinC "Reaches Out" To Sacbee Editor. I'll respond to it later this evening.

In the meantime, the post below the star line sheds light on the kind of journalism Rogers and the N&O have all too often engaged in.

With the title - Duke lacrosse: N&O columnist makes false statement, slimes players - I published it on Aug. 14, 2006 when Mike Nifong was still DA, the three innocent players were awaiting trial, and Duke President Dick Brodhead had yet to say a word critical of Nifong or those like Rogers who smeared the lacrosse players.

John

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Readers Note: Dennis Rogers is a news columnist for the Raleigh News & Observer, the newspaper whose biased, inaccurate and inflammatory coverage of the Duke lacrosse story did so much to turn what should have been a fair, thorough police investigation into a witch hunt that's included investigative and legal travesties that have harmed innocent people and the community.

Some people believe the N&O has now ceased its outrages as the public has begun to realize "the Duke lacrosse case" is based on a hoax that certain individuals and groups have used to advance their interests and agendas.

But while the N&O has cut back on the frequency of its outrages, it still engages in them.

A very recent example is Rogers’ Aug. 12. news column in which he made a statement about the players that he and his editors had to know was false. Rogers immediately followed his false statement with an outrageous slime of the players.

I decided to write the following electronic letter to the N&O’s executive editor for news, Melanie Sill, who says news columnists “are under my watch.”

Sill has also told readers (scroll to seventh comment dated 9/21/05 at 12:32):

News section columnists are held to the same standards as news reporters in terms of ethics, news gathering and so forth. They could be fired for the same reasons reporters could be fired -- violating N&O standards in any of a variety of areas, ranging from plagiarism to professional behavior lapses.

John
_____________________________________

August 14, 2006


Melanie Sill
Executive editor for news
Raleigh News & Observer
Raleigh, North Carolina

Dear Melanie:

In Dennis Rogers’ Aug. 12 news column he tells readers :
The lacrosse players say, nope, they don't remember a thing. I can appreciate that, having been to college parties where the details are still hazy. Unless something happened. In that case, I clearly recall being in a Laundromat at the time in question, your honor.
Rogers’ statement, “The lacrosse players say, nope, they don’t remember a thing.,” is false.

Rogers, his editors, you and I all know the statement is false.

The three indicted players have provided detailed accounts of their actions the night of March 13/14.

David Evans voluntarily provided a statement to police on Mar. 16 when he also voluntarily agreed to go to Duke Hospital to submit to rape kit testing. He also volunteered to take a police administered lie detector test. There are many witnesses ready to substantiate his detailed statement.

Reade Seligmann, through his attorney, has provided cell phone records, a time-stamped ATM receipt, a time-stamped ATM photo, a time-stamped food purchase receipt, a cab driver witness, teammate witnesses, and timed Duke dorm entry card data. That evidence, along with a statement by Seligmann, establishes a minute-by-minute account of what he was doing during the only time in which the alleged brutal gang-rape, beating, robbery and strangulation claimed by the accuser could have taken place.

Collin Finnerty’s attorneys say they have documentation and witnesses to his actions during the time in question that provide evidence as detailed and strong as that of Seligmann’s.

Other lacrosse players who were at the party have provided and signed detailed statements.

The lacrosse players have even provided, through their attorneys, numerous time-stamped photos of the party, including ones of the accuser.

However, everything the players have done to detail their actions that night didn’t stop Rogers, his editors and the N&O from making what you all knew was a false statement :
The lacrosse players say, nope, they don't remember a thing.
Rogers, his editors and the N&O weren’t satisfied with making a deliberately false and malicious statement.

They went on to deliberately and maliciously slime the Duke students by insinuating they are not truthful regarding their activities during the critical time the evening of Mar. 13/14 when the alleged felony crimes would have to have occured :
I can appreciate that, having been to college parties where the details are still hazy. Unless something happened. In that case, I clearly recall being in a Laundromat at the time in question, your honor.
Do Rogers and the N&O offer any evidence for their insinuation the players are lying? Of course not! N&O standards don't require any.

Melanie, at the Editor's Blog on the thread of this post you told N&O readers:
News section columnists are held to the same standards as news reporters in terms of ethics, news gathering and so forth. They could be fired for the same reasons reporters could be fired -- violating N&O standards in any of a variety of areas, ranging from plagiarism to professional behavior lapses.(bold added)
As a regular N&O reader who’s followed closely your Duke lacrosse coverage, I don’t question that Rogers’ false statement and sliming meet N&O standards.

Nevertheless, I think the N&O owes its readers a correction and explanation for what Rogers, his editors and the N&O did.

Also, as a matter of minimal decency the Duke students are owed the correction and explanation as well as an apology for Rogers’ column and so much else the N&O has done to harm their lives.

Finally, Melanie, I want to make a suggestion:Raise the N&O’s standards for reporters, news columnists and editors, including you.

At present, your standards are disgracefully low as Dennis Rogers’ column demonstrates.

Sincerely,

John
www.johnincarolina.com

cc: Dennis Rogers

Ted Vaden, public editor

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The N&O needs to be held accountable.

Anonymous said...

Nice exposure of the hypocrite Rogers.

People shouldn't judge everyone at the N&O by him.

I'm glad you don't.

Anonymous said...

Dennis Rogers said...
I probably shouldn't be but I am nonetheless amazed at the cruelty and mean spirits displayed on this website. You may or may not like the N&O, its employees or Melanie Sill but to wish them and their families the suffering and strain of unemployment is simply beyond the pale. I vehemently disagree with most of what appears on this blog, but I would never wish ill to those who support it.
N&O people are not privileged elites. They work hard for middle class salaries. Not only are they the writers and editors who work hard to throw crooks like Jim Black and Meg Scott Phipps in prison, they are people who sweep floors, take care of administration, drive trucks, maintain equipment and a hundred other skills. They're honest, hard working people who don't deserve to be thrown out to the cheers of those on this blog.
You should be ashamed of yourselves, but from what I've seen, I doubt you. And unlike you cowards, I will sign my name to my words, as I did for 31 years.

Dennis Rogers, N&O columnist 1976-2007
***********

Phil Smart (Johannesburg) says:

Dear Dennis

I probably shouldn't be but I am nonetheless amazed at the cruelty and mean spirits displayed by the N&O its editorial staff (Melanie Sill, John Drescher, Linda Williams Ted Vader et al), its reporting staff (Ann Blythe, Ruth You Know, We Know You Know Sheehan, Samiha Kanah etc) and its columnists (Barry Saunders Linda Williams, Ruth Sheehan, Melanie Sill)!

I neither like or dislike the N&O, its above mentioned staff, its employees or Melanie Sill but I wish to point out to them and their families that the suffering and strain of unemployment that all employees are currently facing is simply the result of the editorial and reporting cowardice and ideological bias of
Sill and her ilk, (yourself included - Dennis).

I neither agree or disagree with most of what appears on in the N&O, with one noticeable exception and I would never wish ill to those who support it, but - give us a break - Dennis, you can only push your readers so far, before they start pushing back and deserting you. Look to yourself - Dennis, and the part you played in the the N&O's demise, before excoriating those bloggers and commenters who are not so sympathetic to the current terminal writhings of the N&O.

This is not about the N&O people who are not the privileged elites. It is not about those who work hard for middle class salaries. It is about the reporters, writers and editors who work so hard to throw innocent (and demonstrably so) persons like Reade Seligman, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty in jail for a "crime" that never happened; that worked so hard to perpetuate the frame of these young men by former and now disgraced DA Mike Nifong and others at Duke and in Durham; those who trashed and even now, continue to trash the other Lacrosse players who are now seeking justice through the courts(you know them -Dennis) the race hustling N&O bigots like Linda Williams and Barry Saunders et al.

I sympathize with those people who sweep floors, take care of administration, drive trucks, maintain equipment and a hundred other skills. They're honest, hard working people who, I wholeheartedly agree don't deserve to be thrown out on the street. However, I defy you substantiate from any part of this blog ,or any comment made here that supports your hypebolic "to the cheers of those on this blog" statement. (What happened to dispassionate subtle and nuanced reporting - Dennis?) They are the collateral damage caused by years and years of pernicious socialist bias against the very system that allows you the "freedom of speech" you and your editorial and management colleagues have for so long hidden behind, and abused.

You, and all the rest of the N&O editorial and management staff should be ashamed of yourselves, but from what I've seen, I doubt you will ever apologise to your readers, those "middle management" staff and the workers whom you profess to hold so dear, for your part in this catastrophe.

Calling others "you cowards", is typical of your mindset; everyone else is to blame, you are the "victim" and none of this was, is, or will in the future be, your responsibility or fault.

You sign your name to your words, as you have done for 31 years. Well whoop de do - Dennis! Maybe history will finally attribute the proportionate blame to you and for once put some of the burden on your shoulders, and those whom you have wilfully and recklessly harmed through your unendingly and unerringly biased columns and "pieces" will be able to gain some moral (at least) retribution.

Phil Smart,Johannesburg SA. NOT AN N&O columnist 1953-

Anonymous said...

Dennis:

"And unlike you cowards, I will sign my name to my words, as I did for 31 years."

Nice touch. I guess that makes all the damage you did in the those 31 years disappear, right?

You couldn't even bring yourself to offer one simple apology to Evans, Seligmann, or Finnerty?

You are a disgrace.

Ken
Dallas