Talk:Houston Chronicle/Mediation

message: Here's a summary of my positions and my views of what should be done. First, I will note that I am content with the light rail section in a form similar to its current version found here . To date the bulk of the dispute has revolved around a couple different points surrounding this section's various components. I'll address each by number corresponding to those in the discussion section.
1. A dispute has waged over how we should present the Chronicle's role in implementing the light rail memorandum. I am content with the current version reading "Consistent with the memorandum's stated "specific objective" [13] (http://www.robbooth.net/chrnmem.shtml), the Chronicle editorial page remained a vocal public advocate of the METROrail referendum in late 2003 and repeatedly endorsed its adoption." The initial dispute over this section was whether or not a previous wording implied that the Chronicle had changed its positions around the memo. I propose that the current version makes no such implication though, and is factually accurate in its present form. The following sentence regarding the Houston Review content analysis was added in response to requests for additional sources by willmcw, though Katefan apparently wants it removed, saying that it is "cluttering up" the paragraph. I believe at minimum a link should be retained.
2. A dispute has emerged over the inclusion of the word "criminal" to describe the type of investigation the Chronicle initiated. I favor its inclusion. Katefan desires its removal. I am very strongly in favor of its inclusion because it is the word used in the Texas statute that was used by the Chronicle to make the complaint (see here ). Furthermore, I believe that its removal removes needed specificity from the article. I also believe that removing it obscures the exact nature and severity of the Chronicle's action, especially in light of the fact that the complaint was found to be frivolous & thus would be an edit that favors the Chronicle spin.
3. A dispute has waged over whether we should characterize TTM's activities with the word "refusal" to indicate that they "refused" to release their contributor lists. I objected to this terminology on NPOV grounds after Katefan added it because "refusal" implies that TTM chose not to or failed to meet an obligation under the law, yet Texas law in fact makes no such requirement of them. The Chronicle itself in its self-coverage of the dispute purported that TTM had supposedly "refused" to disclose its donors, so repeating their characterization of it also carries with it their POV. Furthermore, the original phrasing by Katefan was vague in that it did not clearly specify who or what TTM supposedly "refused," hinting strongly that it was some legal obligation - which is factually inaccurate. In response I've offered the following current language and favor it: "During the campaign the Houston Chronicle made a request to Texans for True Mobility (TTM), the main critic of METRORail, to provide the paper with a copy of their financial contributor reports. TTM declined to do so, indicating that they did not believe the Chronicle would objectively represent their position in light of the memorandum."
4. There has been a dispute over whether technical names of TTM's legal designation etc. should be mentioned in the article. The initial purported concern was that most readers would not know what a "501c" organization, or specifically a 501(c)(6) organization is. To resolve this I expanded the wikipedia articles on 501c's and added this text link. I contend that 501(c)6 should be retained because (1) this legal status was, and its falling outside of the Texas law that the Chronicle alleged to have been violated, was the main reason their case was dismissed, (2) the article uses legal specifications such as Political Action Committee to describe other types of groups, and (3) it is easy to accomodate an explanatory link through 501(c)(6).
5. This dispute has involved what sources should be used and cited in describing the dispute. Katefan made revisions to this paragraph that were overwhelmingly based upon the information and presentation containted in the Houston Chronicle's self-coverage of the criminal complaint. I responded that this is inappropriate without disclosure because the Chronicle, being a party to that complaint itself, should not be taken as an objective source on the matter (and indeed it was not - the Chronicle's self-coverage portrayed TTM as if they had broken the law, which the DA found they had not done). I noted both then and now that I do not object to using material from the Chronicle's self-coverage IF (1) that material is clearly attributed to the Chronicle and (2) it is properly contextualized to indicate it is representative of their POV in a contentious case. It should not, however, be used as the primary piece of source material for the article especially when others exist, foremost among them being the Texas statute itself.
6. A dispute over citation styles has also emerged. This stems from a couple of article sources added by Katefan with her initial edits. The original format of this article has consistently employed the footnote style of citations throughout. The sources added by Katefan, however, were cited using the hidden embedded text style of citations. I immediately noted that this was inconsistent with the rest of the article and asked her to use a consistent style - particularly with the Houston Press article entitled "Ties That Bind?" which could be easily linked using the footnote style. This matter of dispute IMO has a very simple solution and is a clear cut case per all the style manuals. It could be rectified in a matter of moments, but my requests for this to be done have gone largely unanswered. Rangerdude 03:36, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Rangerdude's view

message: A couple of things may be said in light of Katefan's comments above. On each point where we differ I will indicate my position and justification and, where applicable, some compromises: 
1. Article balance in general First, it seems to be a recurring issue that Katefan's objections are with the amount of negative material in this article. They are not nearly as much directed to the facts I have added to this article as to any piece of information that is negative about the Chronicle in general. One of the original issues was the deficit in positive material about the Chronicle, however this complaint is now moot as an extensive history and awards sections have been added as the article developed, thus counterbalancing critical material. In its current form the article contains an extensive and relatively balanced mix of positive and negative factual information about the paper. I have not objected to the addition of facts that reflect positively on the Chronicle, however Katefan seems to object to each and every fact that reflects negatively on the Chronicle. I believe this is an untenable position to hold. Loading the article up with information that is favorable to the Chronicle while excluding all that is unfavorable results in an article that strongly tilts towards the Chronicle's own POV and thus violates wikipedia's NPOV policies. As noted, I did not object to Katefan's desire to include more positive factual material about the Chronicle right down to each and every little obscure journalism award they've received. I do, however, object to her attempts to remove any unfavorable factual material while simultaneously retaining favorable factual material as that severely tilts the article's direction. Like it or not, there is extensive ongoing controversy presently surrounding the Houston Chronicle, its alleged political biases, and the manner in which the paper is administered. When a major broadcast media outlet and one of the two major political parties in Houston are actively and openly boycotting a newspaper as large as the Chronicle it's a problem and an issue worthy of full discussion in this article. Removing all critical material about the paper constitutes cleansing and spin that appears designed to water down the severity of current problems and controversies involving this newspaper.
2. Sources - Katefan has objected to the use of sources in the article, calling several critical sources (specifically Free Republic and the Houston Review) "questionable" and attacking their credibility. Despite this, I have yet to see any valid information that disputes the accuracy of the material cited from any of these sources leading me to believe that her challenges to the use of these sources are not in fact critiques of their validity but rather ad hominem attacks upon the sources themselves. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that both the Houston Review and Free Republic have played various roles in publicizing several of the scandals and controversies that have given rise to allegations of bias at the Houston Chronicle itself, most notably the light rail memorandum - which, if I am not mistaken, was first publicized by them. To exclude them for the reasons Katefan has suggested would accordingly be akin to excluding the Powerline and Little Green Footballs blogs from the article about the forged Dan Rather memorandums, even though they broke the stories.
3. Houston Press Club awards - Here it is contended that inclusion of the Chronicle's shunning by the judges in the Houston Press Club awards despite being a shoe-in for the prize is a "perfect example" of information that "does not rise to the level of inclusion." Yet if you look at the "awards" section all sorts of awards the paper has won, both major and downright obscure, are listed in full detail. If its okay to list a gazillion awards they have won for good news coverage etc., is it not a fair balance to list a single award where they were very noticeably shunned for bad coverage? Removing this would be yet another example of trying to cleanse the article of all that is unfavorable about the Chronicle while retaining only that which is favorable with an end result in violation of NPOV.
4. Rail Memorandum Controversy - issues:
*It does not bother me to state that the memorandum was a "memorandum to reporters" as it clearly proposed stories for reporters to write. There is also little doubt that at least some, if not all, of the recipients of it regularly write material that appears in the Chronicle. If somebody has an alternative phrasing though I am open to it. Perhaps we should state that it was a "memorandum to writers" or a "memorandum to staff" or something along those lines.
*Tom DeLay - I removed the additional content offered by Katefan regarding Tom DeLay for several reasons, which contrary to what has been implied, I stated in full detail at the time. First, its length and detail was excessive for the context in this article. It was asserted to be a "response" to a factual description of what the memorandum itself said (including direct quotes from the memo), yet the "response" was more than twice as long as the original sentence. Second, this "response" went way off topic on issues of political fundraising that, if anywhere, belongs on the Tom DeLay article (which I also suggested at the time as an appropriate compromise). This article is about the Chronicle's memo controversy - not a complete history of Tom DeLay's highway lobby contributions. Third, the section added by Katefan exhibited strong characteristics of original research, consisting primarily of a link to the Opensecrets.org campaign contribution database and making original conclusions based upon data found in that database. The current form of this section, to wit The memorandum then proposed several "investigative" news stories and editorials designed to examine "the campaign led by Tom DeLay and Bob Lanier to defeat rail expansion." DeLay, a Houston congressman, and Lanier, a former mayor of Houston, had both actively opposed light rail in the past. is far more balanced by contrast as it includes a one-sentence description of the memo itself followed by a one-sentence description of the memo's context, indicating that DeLay is indeed a long time rail opponent but without extraneous original research material attacking DeLay.
*Cohen's quote - It is obvious from Cohen's statement that he defended the memorandum in an extremely unapologetic manner, to wit  "I make no apologies for having a thorough discussion of the issue. We have nothing to apologize for…There was an inadvertent posting of it to the Web site, and I'm sorry about that, but I make no apologies for the contents of it." To object to a simple factual assertion in the article that Cohen defended the memo is to deny the obvious here. It is pertinent to note that the Chronicle defended and stood by the memo in the article's text because this indicates the nature of their response to the controversy. Since they stood by it we should say just that! There's no fault in stating an obvious and undisputed fact.
*Memo and editorial consistency - I strongly dispute that the current text says the memo affected the direction of the paper's coverage. It does nothing of the sort, though this straw man mischaracterization of my position has been made against me previously. Rather it says simply that the editorial position was "Consistent with the memorandum's stated "specific objective"" - as in they both strongly endorsed and promoted rail. This is an undisputed fact, and to state that the memo and the editorials took the same position is 100% factually accurate. As to the proposed change "The Houston Review charged that the memo affected the Chronicle's coverage...," this is unnecessary as the current wording does NOT assert that the memo affected the coverage on its own and a subsequent sentence already attributes this assertion to the Houston Review.
*Houston Review content analysis - I added this sentence describing the Houston Review's content analysis after User:willmcw, who agrees with Katefan's position, specifically requested that I include it as a source rather than a summary sentence of their position. In fact, Willmcw even requested that I go further than the current sentence and ADD specific quotes from the Houston Review, so I'd suggest that he and Katefan reach an agreement on this issue. I'm generally content either way, be it a specific statement of their results or a summary sentence followed by a link to the effect of "A Houston Review content analysis of the paper's editorials suggested..."
*TTM's reasons - Contrary to Katefan's claim I have shown multiple places where TTM explicitly indicated their concern over the Chronicle's biased rail coverage as a reason for not providing the paper with their donors. First, the Chronicle itself paraphrased TTM's spokesman on 10/23/03 in their self coverage asserting this: "the donors want to preserve their right of free expression as a group rather than as individuals who could be vulnerable to criticism from powerful institutions. He listed Metro, the city and the Chronicle as examples of such institutions." Second, TTM published several articles on its official website  attacking the Chronicle's bias including a copy of the memorandum  on a link titled "Chronicle's intent on bias in reporting, in their own words" . Katefan did not acknowledge the validity of TTM's own material as a source for their objections to the Chronicle's alleged bias despite this evidence.
*Negative potrayal of anti-rail persons - Katefan claims that the memo does not indicate an intent to portray rail critics negatively, however the memo is very explicit throughout that this is indeed its purpose. First, it states in summary that its "specific objective" is to "make rail a permanent part of the transit mix here." Second, in characterizing the two suspected funders of rail opposition (DeLay and Lanier) the memo indicates that their respective involvement is a negative, to wit: "for better or worse, (mostly worse, I would argue)." Third, the memo directly likens rail opponents to a well known historical case in another city, analogizing rail opponents and freeway proponents with the negatively portrayed interests from that case: "We in Houston have our own version of the "Chinatown" story of the early 20th century Los Angeles, when the currency of power was water... Since World War II, Houston's currency has bee concrete." Fourth, the introductory phrase of the section on anti-rail funding is entitled "Ground zero for November," indicating that it explicitly pertains to impacting the election. Since the memo has already asserted that ensuring a rail victory is its "specific objective" in that election, it is necessarily the case that "Ground zero for November" means a negative portrayal of DeLay, Lanier, and rail opponent financing. Fifth, the memo's concluding phrase directly indicates its intent to negatively portray rail opponents, to wit: "They (the voters in November) need to know who has wielded the power to pour concrete, who still wields it and to what lengths the concrete pourers will go in order to stop rail."
*Texas Statutes - The specific chapters of Texas statute under which the complaint was made, and the fact that these chapters did NOT apply to 501c organizations, are the crux of the case and the reason why the District Attorney dismissed it as frivolous. A revision of this section proposed by Katefan removed this material, and along with it any indication that the statute cited by the Chronicle did not even legally apply to TTM under Texas law. Citing the statutes and giving accompanying links (all of Texas' statutes are online at the state legislature website) gives readers a direct means of checking this info for themselves.
*The word criminal - Katefan states her objection to this word's use is as follows: "My personal opinion is that the complaint was just that -- a complaint, neither criminal nor civil." But this personal opinion is factually incorrect because Texas Statute DOES distinguish between criminal and civil complaints, and also explicitly identifies the type of complaint made by the Chronicle as "criminal" with the word "criminal" being used repeatedly (see here ). An erronious personal opinion is not a legitimate basis to change the wording of a sentence that is drawn directly from what the law itself says independent of that personal opinion.
5. My objections to Katefan's version on the light rail memo - I have several standing objections to Katefan's version of this section as reproduced above:
*By removing the word "criminal" it does not properly characterize the nature of the complaint. This is in conflict with the language of the Texas statute itself.
*The entire second paragraph asserts that Texas law requires PACs to make contribution disclosures then presents the Chronicle's allegation as if this law applied to TTM. TTM, however, was not a PAC nor any other type of organization falling under the statute and this needs to be explictly stated. Simply saying that it was a "non-profit" does not cut it either, because this also neglects to reveal that the Texas law does not apply to non-profits. 
*The second and third paragraphs worded in such a way as to suggest that TTM exceeded Texas law's allowances for "educational" advertisements.
*The second and third paragraphs are generally vague as to what Texas law itself actually says and applies to. Since the nature of the criminal complaint and the grounds for its dismissal were very technical, relying directly on technical legal registrations for different types of organizations, neglecting to include them does a serious disservice and produces a misleading result.
*In short, the entire wording proposed by Katefan is overly sympathetic to the Chronicle's POV. The reality of the case is this: the Chronicle made a criminal complaint to initiate a criminal investigation before the election and the DA investigated and found that complaint was frivolous, dismissing it completely for being made without merit. Given those circumstances, the use of vague legal characterizations, squirrely wordings, and other semantic games that make it sound as if the Chronicle had a legitimate case is wholly inappropriate and constitutes a strong POV towards the Chronicle itself. 
*Per the source that was originally cited for this version, it is based primarily upon the Houston Chronicle's self-coverage of a legal proceeding that they were a party to. For the aforementioned reasons in my first post, I believe it is very inappropriate to use the Chronicle as a primary source on this part of the section. Their POV should also be disclosed in any place that their self-coverage is employed. Rangerdude 02:43, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Response

message: Also, please note that I am supportive of most of the current version's wordings. Please see here for a comparison of the changes that myself and others have already made to the previous version to accomodate various requests by Katefan and others. Rangerdude 04:33, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Current Version

message: I have posted notice to MGM regarding ongoing activities on this mediation page involving User:willmcw that I find to be obstructionist in nature and generally detracting from the progress towards resolving this article's many disputes. As organized by MGM and agreed to upon its inception, this mediation was to be divided into two parts involving the primary dispute between myself and Katefan and secondary disputes involving all others. The mediation page was created to reflect this, separating out the two areas and specifically instructing editors other than myself and Katefan to conduct their proposals in the designated section on the lower half of the page. Invitations were also evidently extended to editors who indicated an interest in participating so that they may comment in the designated section. Earlier today Willmcw breached this agreed upon arrangement by making a unilateral and unauthorized addition of himself into the upper section reserved for the discussion between myself and Katefan. In doing so he rearranged the page's format to include his comments in that section and added himself to the mediation header. Upon encountering this unauthorized change I restored the original format and made note of it. Willmcw refused this and again made an unauthorized addition of his name to the upper portion of the page.  I have since restored the original formatting yet again, though I am not confident that Willmcw will abide by it nor am I confident that his participation here is being made in good faith given this event and other related developments.
I would like to state emphatically that I object to Willmcw's behavior in adding himself to the upper discussion and note that I explicitly requested that he NOT be a party to the primary mediation between myself and Katefan due to the history between myself and Willmcw and for reasons that have unfortunately been confirmed by this action. The result has been unfortunate in that Willmcw's additions here have (1) produced undue agitation by bringing another dispute I am involved in with this poster into this mediation and (2) distracting attention away from the issues discussed in the initial posts by myself and Katefan, which, though they contained many unresolved differences, were at least making progress in getting the issues out on the table. I consider this an unfortunate development, though not unforseen given the history between myself and Willmcw (which I have openly disclosed and stated my concern about from the outset).
I would accordingly like to request that comments from all other editors other than myself and Katefan as well as the mediator be directed to a separate and distinct page of mediation, properly designated as such and linked to at the bottom of the mediation between myself and Katefan. Furthermore, comments other than those appearing in the upper section should be moved to the second page, where appropriate, or deleted, where not appropriate to the mediation. I fear that the current state of affairs is too distracting to the point that any real progress that was being made, even if small, is now overshadowed by comments and edits that are not made in the best interest of reaching an equitable solution or agreeable consensus. Because of this I urge that the separation of the sections be conducted as soon as possible. Thank you. Rangerdude 02:46, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Mediation Format and Request

message: Is this still going on? The mediator hasn' commented since June!Savidan 02:38, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Savidan's View

message: *I request that editors involved in this mediation stop making personal attacks. Thank you. -Willmcw 21:45, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)
**Insofar as the topics discussed on this mediation page are concerned, as well as the content currently existing here and found in the posts above by myself and Katefan, I do not see any "personal attacks." If you are referring to your separate activity of following me around wikipedia in a manner that is deconstructive to the medium and personally harassing towards myself and other editors, which I objected to yesterday elsewhere on wikipedia over matters unrelated to this mediation (and I'm fully prepared to demonstrate your aforementioned behavior if the need arises), then it is of no bearing to this mediation beyond your involvement and will be addressed as appropriate in the appropriate sections of wikipedia (which this is not) pending your etiquette, or lack thereof, demonstrated from this point forward. Thanks. Rangerdude 21:55, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: For what its worth, I think it would be best to move the light rail content to an article like Controversies in the city of Houston it would be easier to NPOV since it wouldn't have to be in the context of the paper. I'm not from houston, but any other controversies in the city which the paper is involved in but not exclusively party to could be moved as well. That shortens this section quite a bit. --Uncle Bungle 06:39, 28 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Outside views 2