"Journalists too often dine with those they should be feasting upon." I don't remember who said it but chances are it wasn't Governor Frank Murkowski.
The governor is really miffed with the press. It didn't help that his news conference meltdown with reporters was one of the most popular segments of Gavel to Gavel this year. His fit of pique with reporters asking uncomfortable questions on public policy was shown over and over again as the legislature limped to a close (hey, the reruns weren't Gavel to Gavel's fault, they had nothing else to put on the air as legislators went behind closed doors during their special session do over).
At another press conference a few days after the meltdown, the governor disinvited, among others, the reporter for the state's largest newspaper and the reporter for the state's most-watched television news program. They, apparently, weren't appropriately deferential to the governor because they asked follow-up questions when the governor inartfully dodged the point on allowing soft money for political parties.
Then, after the special session, the governor really lit into the press. He said some reporters weren't objective. He said Alaskans weren't getting the real story on what the legislature accomplished. He said some reporters weren't professionals. He said those reporters weren't telling Alaskans that the legislature was hard working and successful (this after the 121-day regular session when the legislative leadership had to adjourn without an operating budget or capital budget and come back in a $30,000-a-day special session). He said reporters weren't balanced.
In one sense he was correct. There wasn't balance. Not when you consider that the flaks from each department in the executive branch, the flaks in the governor's office, and the flaks from the legislature outnumbered accredited journalists covering the capitol on a daily basis by about two to one. Despite that lack of "balance", the coverage by the real journalists was balanced.
John Strohmeyer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Atwood professor of journalism at UAA, in an Anchorage Daily News column last week strongly disagreed with the governor's assessment of the real reporters. He especially praised the television reporter and newspaper reporter the governor panned.
Here's my take: Professor Strohmeyer is right and the governor isn't.
I don't come with the lofty credentials of the good professor but as an Alaska journalist I covered politicians and wrote editorials about what politicians did and didn't do. I've represented different bureaucracies in their dealings with the press, including the ombudsman's office, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and the legislature (though my days as a flak for the legislature was decades ago). I've been interviewed by local journalists, state journalists, and national journalists since I began serving on the CBJ Assembly and after moving to the state House and state Senate. I've had to respond to difficult and challenging questions about my votes on gay marriage, ANWR, and abortion.
Through all this, I've never felt the press was an enemy of the truth. At times I've felt victimized because of mistakes made but never victimized by a journalist's "agenda".
So, with my modest background that falls significantly short of Mr. Strohmeyer's Pulitzer Prize, I submit that the members of the press covering the governor and the legislature this year were better than average. Especially improved were the stories from the Associated Press-their new team did well on deadline, provided more intelligent coverage than in the past few years, and remained balanced throughout.
Also worthy of special recognition was the team from the Anchorage Daily News who excelled at stories that put issues in perspective (want to know about gas line issues, state pension wrinkles, or workers' comp?-ask these two reporters not a legislator or bureaucrat). The reporter for Anchorage's Channel 2 News understood his stories were for Alaskans outside the capitol and not legislators inside the building. The Juneau Empire reporters also did well despite being thrown into the middle of legislative reporting without the background on personalities and issues the long-time reporters had.
Again, every professional sometimes makes mistakes and journalists are no exception. (When I was a reporter, I thought editors were responsible for the majority of mistakes and when I became an editor I thought reporters could have been more careful.) But no way, no how, is the governor correct when he lambastes the Alaska press for being unbalanced or advancing an agenda. Did they miss some stories?-yeah, that happens on deadline and when you have limited resources. Did they run the stories through some internal lens that purposely distorted the governor's agenda or a legislator's agenda?-nah.
I know the governor, and most of us legislators, would be more comfortable with a pliant press. We'd like it if they'd simply take what our flaks put out in press releases and mainline it straight into the newspapers. But that's not their job.
Their job is to report on what we do, not what we say. Their job is to feast on us not dine with us. They did pretty good this session.
90 and out-Three legislators, two Republicans and one Democrat, announced they are sponsoring an initiative to shorten legislative sessions to 90 days. Our constitution now provides that regular sessions can be no longer than 121 days. Of course there's nothing that means we have to go the full 121 days. Good leadership and a commitment to focus could now get us out of here in 90 days. In fact, even one of the GOP sponsors of this new initiative said if we'd commit to working six or seven days a week instead of four or five we'd get done faster.
Remember when?-Speaking of a 90-day session limit, a long-time legislative observer and friend sent along a fact sheet that listed the longest legislative sessions, including the 1981 history maker that went 164 days. Others include the 1983 session of 162 days, the 1978 and 1972 sessions of 161 days, and the 147-day 1970 session. The first session after adoption of the 121-day constitutional limit (the 1985 session) lasted 121 days but was followed by a 22-day special session. The 2005 session actually lasted 136 days-the regular 121 days plus 15 days in special session. This friend also noted the 147-day session in 1970 was interesting in several ways. That legislature: adopted an operating budget of $314 million (imagine); the capital budget had a $13 million appropriation for Juneau's State Office Building; legislative salaries were bumped to $16,150 (we are now paid about $24,000 a year); and state law was changed to ensure that the decision to have an abortion was a decision between a woman and her doctor.
Special anniversary-We missed an anniversary, according to the national monthly publication of the Council of State Governments. They noted that 25 years ago in April Gov. Jay Hammond signed into law the bill creating the permanent fund and dividend. They noted that our permanent fund now contains almost $30 billion and is among the 100 largest investments in the world and exceeds any endowment fund, private foundation, or union pension trust in the U.S. Way to go.
Pesky reporters with memories-The special session wrap-up issue of the Alaska Budget Report included a then and now perspective on state spending. A television reporter in 2003 asked our governor the following question: "Vic Kohring yesterday said regarding the user fee proposals that he questions whether you are a limited-government guy. What do you say to that?" The governor responded: "I think I have the responsibility to come up with a program with the competent people that we have [to reduce] the rate of growth of this government. And we've done that. And I think that's a very responsible thing. And I think most Alaskans elected us for that purpose." On May 26 of this year, following the special session a Budget Report journalist, noting the 31 percent increase in spending under this administration, asked the governor if he's changed his mind about why Alaskans elected him. The governor responded: ". . . I don't think we are breaking our commitment, but simply recognizing realities. As Anchorage grows, there is more congestion, you have to address that."
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