Death penalty: In a December 13 article about convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who's stopped making appeals and now says he'd like his execution to take place within the next few months, Denver Post reporter Andrew Guy Jr. sought comments from those who had originally decided McVeigh's fate. Along the way, he identified one of his interviewees, Marlene Wichael, as a juror when she was actually an alternate. But this oversight paled in comparison with another, much larger faux pas involving another woman who wasn't what she seemed to be, either.
You see, Guy cited numerous comments made by Ruth Meier, identified as a former McVeigh juror. But Guy's note that she hadn't "followed the case closely since the trial ended" took on a more ironic meaning when it was revealed that the Meier who'd served on the jury actually died in September 1999. No need to read the newspapers when you're in the Great Beyond.
Rand Carlson
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How did Guy manage to speak to Meier without the use of an oracle or a Ouija board? By reaching a different Meier -- a person with the same name living in the same community (Arvada), but with no connection to the McVeigh case. Post editor Glenn Guzzo says that Guy got Meier's phone number from another reporter, and since the lady who answered identified herself as Ruth Meier, he didn't think to confirm with her that she was the Ruth Meier who had been on the McVeigh jury. Which she wasn't -- but she was more than happy to talk about it anyway.
This should serve as a warning to McVeigh. He's steering clear of interviews now -- but after that lethal injection, who knows?
Full court press: On December 15, a federal judge rejected a request by members of the management at the Salt Lake Tribune to stop the paper's sale to MediaNews, owned by Denver Post czar Dean "Dinky" Singleton. But this power struggle ("Blood Feud," December 14) isn't out of juice yet: The day after the decision, Tribune general manager Randy Frisch revealed in his publication that his legal team is seeking to stay the ruling until an appeal can be made to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At present, however, it looks like another victory for the Dinkster. Big fat surprise.
Another media dispute, another hearing: On December 18, Emmis Communications filed a lawsuit in federal court against Clear Channel Communications over the latter's plan to debut the morning radio show starring Jamie White and Danny Bonaduce on January 2 on KTCL (which has been running promos to that effect for several days). The rub is over what Emmis sees as a non-compete clause in the White-Bonaduce contract that prevents Clear Channel, which obtained the show in its merger with AMFM earlier this year, from debuting it prior to July 1, 2001. Negotiations on a compromise fell through when Clear Channel brought in its lawyers, who determined that the company could put the program on the air as soon as a ninety-day cancellation notice expired at year's end. Emmis clearly disagrees: On December 28 the firm will ask a judge to issue a restraining order preventing the show from starting until after the matter is heard by an arbitrator.
Joe Schwartz, general manager of Alice, the previous home of Jamie and Danny, declines to talk about the pending litigation; on the record, he'll say only that "we feel strongly about defending our position" regarding the broadcast. But Clear Channel types, reached just prior to the filing, are more talkative. Vice president and general manager Don Howe doesn't want to be seen as attacking all non-compete clauses, which, after all, his stations use, too. But he says, "The wording of this particular contract is certainly unique and almost illogical in places -- and having evaluated it, we feel that the non-compete does not have legs." Mike O'Connor, Clear Channel's director of FM programming, goes even further, referring to a lawsuit as "a best-case scenario for us, because that would generate the kind of publicity that money couldn't buy. We don't have any marketing money for the show right now, and that would really help us let people know where to find it. So bring it on, Joe."
Who says wishes don't come true?
