By Herb Strentz
Attention deficit disorder in the Iowa news media
Librarians in Iowa fight to protect your right to privacy when it comes to what you read. That’s no one’s business, they say.
1. The Iowa Supreme Court decision in Varnum v. Brien, the April 2009 decision that found a 1996 Iowa law banning same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional because it advanced religious — not public — interests.
2. The bizarre party platform of the Iowa Republican Party, adopted at the state GOP convention in June 2010.
3. The one-way contract between the University of Iowa and head football coach Kirk Ferentz. The attention Iowa news media have paid to the contract gives the mistaken impression that Ferentz is guaranteed to be the Hawkeyecoach forever. Okay, at least until 2020.
Let’s take those one at a time because of the light, or gloom, they shed on how well central Iowans are being served by the news.
Varnum v. Brien:
The well-reasoned and well-written opinion was unanimous. The seven Iowa Supreme Court justices agreed on its law and its logic; no arm twisting or gentle persuasion was necessary to achieve unanimity. Yet the chief critic of the decision, Bob Vander Plaats, gets pretty much of a free ride from the news media when he misrepresents the decision or is mistaken when he says what the governor, the attorney general or the court should have done in this case.
Given much of the coverage and commentary, one concludes that many of those covering the decision and resulting controversy haven’t taken the time to read what the Court said.
To its credit, The (Davenport) Quad City Times provides online access to the full text of the decision. (If you check The Des Moines Register website for Varnum v. Brien, you find a sponsored link, or advertisement, by those seeking to oust three Supreme Court justices on the November ballot for retention. You will find stories about the decision and Vander Plaats’ opposition, but you will not find the decision.) Cityview now also posts the text at www.dmcityview.com.
Iowa GOP Platform:
Some folks in Sarasota, Fla., are better informed about the platform than Iowans! That’s because Gil Cranberg, former editorial page editor of The Des Moines Register and Tribune and Cityview contributor, now lives in Sarasota. He spoke about the platform at a panel discussion, stunning Floridians about the extreme stands formally endorsed by the Iowa GOP. But in Iowa: Yawn.
Here’s the deal: If the planks in the GOP platform and been drafted behind closed doors, and if the Iowa GOP had stamped the package as “Top Secret,” there would be hell to pay about some of the pronouncements. But the platform is readily available and ignored. When news stories and editorial comment suggested that the next head of the Iowa Department of Education could be appointed by a new governor, Republican Terry Branstad, none of the coverage that I saw pointed out that Branstad’s party has called for abolishing the Iowa DOE. The only significant attention to the platform has been in Cityview — two Civic Skinny columns, a Brian Duffy cartoon and one guest column (mine). Yet the platform is mind-blowing, even though it is not as well written as Varnum v. Brien. The full platform is now posted at www.dmcityview.com.
Ferentz contract:
This document is the shortest of the three, at 13 well-spaced pages in contrast to the 69 of Varnum and the 48 or so packed pages it takes to cover the Iowa GOP’s journey into the bizarre. But there are so many numbers in the Ferentz contract: $475,000 here, $300,000 there and other sweetheart deals for a dozen Ferentz assistants. One estimate is that the 10-year package could add up to $50-to-$70 million in salary dollars. You won’t find much of that in the press, nor will you find that Ferentz can walk away from Hawkeye Nation anytime he wants with no provisions for penalties or buyouts. A Register column reported Ferentz’s “total annual compensation” at $3.675 million. But that’s just his University salary — the base of $1.87 million, $1.48 million in four other payments and a $325,000 longevity payment for sticking around to collect the $3.35 million. Total compensation — when you add in retirement, fringe benefits and freebies — is likely another million or more. The complete contract can be viewed at www.dmcityview.com.
While we do get some informed commentary and news on at least Varnum v. Brien, that is the exception, not the rule. Iowa readers and viewers are shortchanged on news coverage of all three documents because many reporters apparently don’t bother reading such stuff — and it’s difficult to have an informed citizenry without an informed press.
That’s why we have the First Amendment, which most reporters have read. The Amendment is only 45 words. It works best when reporters read other stuff, too. CV
Herb Strentz is a retired administrator and professor in the Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication and writes occasional columns for Cityview.
