Finkbeiner gets it handed to him by Federal Court. His poor excuses on selective media coverage press conferences were exposed. We all thank WSPD for fighting for what is right. Will Carty comply? Final order will be determined on 1/21.
Constitution 1 Finkbeiner 0
By Vader - Posted on January 16th, 2007
That's good for WSPD, but if you've ever listened to their broadcasts, Carty has a point. They hate him and they don't try to hide it. Still, he should fight them by being smarter than them (not hard to do these days) rather than locking them out of public venues.
WSPD gave Carty plenty of coverage during the election - offered it to Ford as well but he did not take advantage of it. WSPD hosts supported Carty on a number of issues during the campaign.
WSPD challenged the mayor on some of his campaign pledges - like getting the community involved in decisions - and what does he do with the bike path? He ignores citizens until they complain and then he still tries to ram it down their throat and calls his critics whiners and complainers, etc.
We had the Sanders thing and Carty's ethics issues. The shower incident was interesting because it really looked like they wanted to keep the expenditure from council and from public view. It goes on...
Carty got criticized and did not handle it well. He started a feud and made no attempt to stop it. He is the elected leader and is responsible for bringing us together not dividing Toledoans and starting a fight!
Carty sowed the seeds, could not take the heat and now is reaping the harvest.
WSPD is talk show radio and it is by nature provocative, but when elected or taking a public role one has to take the criticism and keep moving forward.
The mayor should know better!
we have so many other things to worry about in this city, in this county, in this state, in this country, in this world then to fret over a petty little argument between the Mayor and some radio show personality.
Both partys have a share of the blame in this case...
Speedy for egging the Mayor on (by continually critizing him for every little tidbit of regulation or spending he employs; heck...I even heard them critizing the way he rode his bike one morning) trying to entrap him in a moment where he loses his candor in a an attempt to bolster their own ratings.
the Mayor for taking the bait and acting in an unprofessional manner unbecomming of an elected public official. Yes, he should have let Millikin in then just refuse to answer his questions.
My point is...this one little incident is not going to threaten the framework and fabric of our constituion or the freedom of the press.
I read some place...Just keep in mind that freedoms, too, have limits and that almost no freedom is absolute.
Let's let it go and get on to the real issues threatening our society. Like the erosion of civil liberties (Can you say Issue 5?)
Really, a radio station needs to draw listeners. And it is no secret that they cover the Mayor very closely and the talk shows are critical. But you have to admit, there's such fodder being put in front of them.
I'm glad the judge gave a restraining order. Let's not forget that in America you do not change the Bill of Rights and the freedoms contained therein because you disagree with what others elect to do with them...
Ok - well we weren't SUPPOSED to be able to......
The White House already offers press creditionals to the media. I guess its been working for a while, because I don't see the National Enquirer, Rush Limbaugh, or David Letterman in the press room asking questions. Perhaps, Toledo does the same to permit access to accredited media outfits, instead of enternainers such as WPSD.
The White House has more at stake than the Mayor of Toledo, IMHO, thus more procedures and security. Although I don't know if they will accept anyone as long as if you are credentialed and pass a background check. Maybe someone can look.
While you may feel that WSPD has some culpability in this, I don't think this was their call. None of this would have happened if Carty did not act the way he did. He was in the wrong in the beginning. Talk stations talk about what goes on and the mayor is a part of what goes on. It is a part of the territory, sometimes things will go your way, sometimes not, but you need to accept this as a fact of life. If you don't want a fire, don't light a match: Carty provided plenty of matches and he got his fire.
The good news is this discussion is solidifying the area's understanding of the 1st amendment and good things can come out of it, even for citizen reporters like Kate B.
So what will Carty do next? My bet is he will try to fight it in court in a week or two. We will see what happens.
Restraining order allows radio reporter into city press conferences
Temporary restraining orders are common means of allowing access while the issue is being debated in due time in court. A TRO is NOT an indication that your case will win on merits, hence this is not actually a "win" for WSPD, Milliken and the rest. I'm sure Junta will illuminate us with even greater details on TROs.
For more information on the whole episode, please check out "Recalling Finkbeiner" at: http://www.toledofreepress.com/?id=4674
"The White House has more at stake than the Mayor of Toledo".... Counterpoint - Freedom ain't Free.
Political officials do not have to go on record to non-credited media organizations such as reality enterntainment organizations including John Stewart, WPSD, or some college intern.
Backed by case law, The Bill of Rights and the Freedom of the Press does have unique language to protect both the news maker and the news reporter.
While there may be no winners in this argument yet there is at least losers. The people of Toledo who are paying for this litigation.
Also the above comment was wrong. Political Commenters can and do get White House Press credientials. A few years back I believe '95 Rush Limbaugh's T.V. show cameramen were denied access to a White House press conference despite their press credentials. It was caught on tape and afterward the White House issued an apology. Also after the incident they were allowed to attend other press conferences but after the "headline factor" was gone RL's people no longer saw a need to attend press conferences and it stopped.
More recently the Daily Show has had numberous press credentials at the Pentagon and Congress that they use during their "Indecision" reporting during election time. They are as well not a "news show" and more of a commentator but individual government offices do not have the right to determine whom is a news outlet or not. Such is Stalinistic Facism.
Meet the Press and Hardball are commentary but they recieve press credentials. So this affects a wide variety of media.
MikeyA
This is off topic, but awhile back people were debating the difference between bloggers and journalists. I read last week that bloggers are going to be allowed to cover the Scooter Libbey case. I thought that was interesting
A U.S. District Court judge in Toledo made permanent yesterday a previous ruling that ordered Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner to allow a WSPD-AM radio reporter into city newsconferences.
I'm glad to see it.
If you slam a door in the face of a reporter or show host, he will just try harder next time.
The sane politician knows all this and would work to avoid such conflicts. Since Carty isn't sane, we end up with further of his shenanigans.
We need to recall Carty. The only "results" he seems to "get" are national embarrassment, developers with sour looks on their faces and second thoughts, and a long list of stupid expenses.
There is a distinction between the news department and the talk show hosts. Talk show hosts can say what they want about public figures. This was an attempt to systematically block the news department from covering stories. Government cannot be allowed to block the coverage of news simply because it doesn't like what talk hosts say. It would be the same as Carty banning all Toledo Blade reporters because he didn't like what Roberta DeBoer said.
Except VoiceofReason that Carty didn't ban all of WSPD because of what one WSPD talk show host said. He allowed a WSPD reporter in, just not Kevin Milliken.