Why do we publish stories detailing the pensions of recently retired public employees? 

The Freeman has, in relatively short order, published stories about the pensions of former Kingston Police Lt. Timothy Matthews, former Kingston schools Superintendent Gerard Gretzinger, and, today, former Kingston Police Chief Gerald Keller.

Some readers question whether this is news. 

buff351 wrote on Feb 25, 2012 5:08 AM:

" With all the crap going on it is easy to start picking on numbers.... I am not a cop, this man did what he could. Every city in the United States wishes it was better. For the Freeman to start throwing salaries around for the soul purpose of winding the community up is wreckless. Do not get me wrong the stuff with the PD and FD is horrible. But not everybody was involved. This man ran that dept to the best of his ability, hes not under investigation.... and for those of you PRIVATE citizens that think his job was easy you lost your mind,he should be getting twice as much....... "

Mypov wrote on Feb 25, 2012 7:28 AM:

" Why have you linked Keller in with a convicted fellon and an inepted school official that has ties to the corruption of that felon. He also has no ties to the FD scandal going on. If he has been instrumental in helping to lower the crime rate in the city, then let his merrits stand by them selves to show that he deserves his pension. That's my POV! "

Veteran wrote on Feb 25, 2012 7:50 AM:

" buff351 - you got it right! Another low for the Freeman. What are they suggesting? Should the Chief who worked 40 plus years have his pension reduced because of a bad cop? Newspapers like this one make me sick in their reporting. "

We think it is news for a variety of reasons.

First, there are the obvious facts that public pensions are 
a) largely funded with public tax money and 
b) markedly more generous than pensions in the private sector. 
It’s one thing to say that, it’s another to spell it out in particulars with the cases of retired local officials. The issue of pensions is currently front-and-center in state politics, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo supporting reform that would reduce the current and future obligations of taxpayers and public unions and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who manages the state pensions fund, adamantly opposing such change.

Further, one might make the case that it’s the generosity of the pension system that can lead to quick retirements when the going gets rough, as it did with Gretzinger and Keller, each implicated in some way with the Matthews case. Neither has been charged with any criminal or civil wrongdoing, but Gretzinger was in charge while Matthews double-dipped as a school security guard and Keller was Matthews’ superior while the lieutenant was stealing money out of a department safe. Their job performance was roundly criticized in the wake of the Matthews scandal prior to their respective announcements of plans to retire. Why stay in a job that’s become aggravating when a comfortable retirement is available?

Also, in the case of Matthews, state law entitles Matthews to a pension for public service, despite felony conviction for stealing public money while on the job. That’s newsworthy. The plea agreement fashioned by Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright provides for Matthews to make restitution for what he stole directly from that pension. And that's newsworthy.

Finally, we do write stories about how much top officials will be paid when they are hired and when their contracts are renewed. It only makes sense to close the circle and tell readers what they will be paid in retirement from the public pension fund.

A reader asks in a comment posted to one of our stories today:

Just wondering why the Freeman often reposts pretty much the same story from a previous day as a new story?
....
It's like a kid rewriting anothers work for a book report.

Can't an existing story on the topic simply be updated if necessary and moved back to near the top of the "new" news? Why a whole new post/"story"?

Reader comments are often inciteful, enjoyable, and/or infuriating - which is why I like to read them! Having to wade through several of the same stories seems kind of rediculous.

If at all possible, Webmaster, get the reporters to update and repost the EXISTING story! "

Here is how I responded:

If we were to roll an existing story through our daily 3 a.m., top-to-bottom refresh of our website, a story that was published on, say, Tuesday would not appear in the archive for that date. It would only appear on the date the story was allowed to expire. There is no practical way to replicate a story that would move an existing set of comments forward while preserving the previous version for archiving.
As for why a story that appeared on Tuesday appears Wednesday morning in substantially the same form, our metrics show that a considerable part of our readership does not catch up to a local story of substantial interest that was posted in mid-day until the next day. (Local stories have a longer shelf life than national and state wire stories, which are allowed simply to expire at 3 a.m.)
We appreciate the value of reader comments. Quite logically, we think, the comments of readers are attached to the version of the story that was appearing when the comments were posted. This makes sense because sometime the particulars of stories are changed as a story develops and the coherence of a line of commentary can be jumbled if the story to which the comments were originally posted has been replaced by a newer version.

A reader comments this morning on the "disappearance" of a national story from our website, inferring that editors are trying to quash criticism of President Barack Obama.

freecitrizen on 02/11/2012 08:02:46 said:
"Isn’t it interesting that the FREEMAN puts a national story on its web page late at night, to which many readers respond, but in the morning it has disappeared because the FREEMAN doesn’t want readers to see challenges to its far left presentation of the news about the current Administration? And yet the publisher claims to provide a more balanced presentation of the news and wonders why readership has declined."



This explanation/interpretation is wrong. Following is the comment I posted on the Freeman website after his comment:

Re comment of freecitizen:
The absence of a story may be "interesting" in the way you mean if you make up an explanation, as you have. The truth, however, is less fascinating.
First, the story to which you must be referring -- Obama's revision of policy on contraceptive coverage, since it's the only one that fits the comment -- wasn't put on the website "late at night." It was posted in midafternoon, after the president's press conference. It was on the site for most of the balance of the day, about 12 hours.
Further, the story did not disappear for any reason other than that which explains why most national stories that happen early in the news cycle are allowed to expire when our entire website is refreshed at 3a. Namely, the news will be old by Web standards by the time most people start logging onto the site after 8a. (Local news has a longer shelf life since many of the stories we originate can only be found here.)
All of yesterday's stories remain available on the site under yesterday's date, as do the comments of readers.
Finally, since the comment is about our website, it's also only fair to point out that the writer is mistaken about our readership -- our Web readership is strong and growing steadily. Taking print and Web together, there are more people now reading the Freeman than ever before in its history.
We really do invite your comments on all news stories and couldn't care less about the slant you take as long as comments are not libelous, profane or unduly harsh about other readers. The more community discussion of the stories we post, the better we like it. We see this as an important part of our role.

A reader complains about a 01-22-12 story reporting a town of Poughkeepsie fire in which three Marist College students died, but not identifying the deceased.

court wrote on Jan 21, 2012 10:57 PM:

" I find it so irresponsible to say two females perished in a fire, gave the address and the school they attended but didn't release their names, for the sake of the families. SHAME ON YOU! "

It's a valid point to raise. But consider the alternatives available to media outlets. 

A fatal fire has occurred early Saturday morning. By late Saturday, the deceased still hadn't been identified by authorities. Likely the existence of a fire was reported by some outlets even as units responded.  In any event, news of the fire had to have spread throughout the region and the Marist College campus. Word of mouth on fatalities spreads quickly, if inaccurately. 

Under these circumstances, anything short of as precise an identification as possible would only exacerbate the issue of stress for families. That is, report only that there was a fire with fatalities somewhere in the town of Poughkeepsie and everyone in the region with connections to people in Poughkeepsie are put on edge. Report there was a fire with fatalities on Fairview Avenue, but not that they were students or the exact location, and everyone with loved ones on Fairview Avenue is panicked.

I view this as a case in which everyone involved was trying to do their jobs as responsibly as possible. Tracking down the parents of college students is a tough job for authorities and they withheld identifications out of their concern. News outlets reported the known details of the tragedy as best they could, even as word of the event doubtless was spreading widely by word of mouth, but perhaps without grounding in facts.

It's a no-win situation for all involved.

A reader railed Thursday against the Freeman’s publication of the "Law & Disorder" compendium of some of the arrests reported by area police agencies:

AVK on 01/05/2012 01:22:13 said:

"For those of us reading these reports, we have a moral responsibility to remember that the information herein constitutes allegations only, unqualified reports and hearsay at best.

Each day this page publishes inaccuracies: inaccuracies that go uncorrected; inaccuracies that shape our actions and judgment in ways that can damage other people’s lives.

If we as readers make the mistake of believing these allegations and accepting them as truth, we are not only making a moral (and possibly legal) error, but we are proving ourselves no better than our forbearers who showed up at the town square to gawk at a public lynching.

So, please pause for a moment:: if the Daily Freeman can do this to others, don’t you think they could do it to you or to me? To your spouse? Your children. Someone you love?

Chances are that there is someone in YOUR life who, through circumstances or chance, will encounter the fringes of our legal system. The fringes! Not a judge. Not a jury. Just the fringes--usually in the form of a law officer, a tax clerk, or some local official. But, these encounters mean nothing. “Where there is smoke, there is fire” is not the basis for of our legal system. And, we all have an ethical responsibility to make sure that it is NOT the basis for determining our behavior toward our fellow man, be it a friend, a colleague, or a perfect stranger.

As for the Daily Freeman, publishers may have the “right” to print these inaccuracies because, after all, it is their publication, and the First Amendment protects their right to do with it as they please.

We as citizens, however, have the right to vote. And, voting today is not just a matter of voting with our wallets. The internet and social media has opened up a new age of hyper-sharing. Social media just toppled an irresponsible government in Egypt. It can topple an irresponsible newspaper in Hudson Valley just as easily. So, speak out where ever and when ever you can. Facebook and Twitter are good places to start.

We as readers should demand more. From the Daily Freeman, we need to demand accuracy and accountability. And, from ourselves we need to demand nothing less than a clean and humble conscience in how we deal with and support our fellow citizens who find themselves caught in the crosshares of this paper’s irresponsible behavior.

My love to one who was needlessly hurt by one of these reports." 

Where to start?

To me, the Law & Disorder column is an interesting finger on the pulse of our community. It is our single most popular feature, as the metrics of readership on our website report. And it is what it is – a compendium of arrests and charges made in our readership area and reported by police and other law enforcement agencies. It is no more and no less.

I couldn’t agree more that allegations should be treated as, well, allegations. Life is like that – sometime you just have incomplete information that calls on you to deal with that information with some sophistication. That some of our tens of thousands of daily readers will not be prudent hardly seems like an argument for denying the information to everyone. Personally, I’m glad to have the grade school days of “it’s always a few that spoil it for everyone else” behind me.

You may want to know, for instance, that your neighbor has been arrested on a rape charge. No, it’s not the same thing as being convicted on a rape charge, but it’s hard to believe that most people, given a choice, would not want that information. Likewise, you would probably want to know that the teen that your son pals around with has been arrested for driving under the influence. It’s up to you how to handle the information, but, if it were me, I’d likely decide that that news deserves my personal inquiries, with my son and possibly the parents of his friend.

(On a personal note, it was certainly valuable to me to learn from this very same Law & Disorder column a few years ago that my eldest stepson, then a minor, had been arrested with a friend and both charged with misdemeanors for some pretty serious mischief. The nitwit -- I love him dearly, truly I do -- had intended to keep the information from me and his mother and handle the criminal justice system himself. We didn’t assume his guilt, but we did assume the situation needed some adult attention, which, I can assure you, it got.)

It is true that the police incident reports sometimes are inaccurate or incomplete. It is true that sometimes reporters make mistakes in transforming incident reports or interviews with police into published items. But in all cases in which we receive complaints about alleged inaccuracies a reporter is assigned to backtrack on the information, a process that usually involves running the complaint past the police for verification or correction. If the information was wrong, we correct it, both in print and online. To me, that’s accountability.

For the record, we get, on average, about one complaint about this material every two weeks; about three-quarters of those prove to need a correction. Most of the complaints are about the addresses of residence of those charged with crimes. The assertion that police item inaccuracies are published every day does not conform to our daily experience over the years.

Finally, I’m not sure how to respond to the Freeman being compared to an oppressive regime that routinely employed torture and systematically suppressed the flow of information to stay in power. But the Egypt of Hosni Mubarak infantilized its citizens by stripping them of power over their own lives; we trust our audience to decide for itself how to use the information we publish.

A reader criticizes us for posting a synopsis of the findings of an investigation by the Times Herald-Record into the record of area developer Steve Aaron. The essence of the criticism is that we should have written the piece ourselves:

the truth wrote on Jan 3, 2012 8:44 AM:

" Now the Freeman is printing news about real investigative reporting done by the Record !!!
This paper never ceases to amaze.
That was an excellent investigative piece in the Record...maybe the Freeman should take note how a newspaper should be doing investigative reporting.
Or you could just report what is in the Record everday. "

 

We’d like to be all things to all people at all times. There was a time when the local daily newspaper was something close to that, delivering most of the international, national, state and local news, sports and entertainment that residents within its area would be exposed to within an average day.

There was a time when that presumption meant that news organizations rarely recognized the work of another news organization.

Those days are long gone. News travels very quickly from a multiplicity of sources, mostly by digital means. Consumers have instant access to news from many sources.

Further, market forces have eroded the ability of nearly all news organizations to cover the ground as they once did. This applies to the former great television network news organizations, The New York Times, The Associated Press, the Washington Post, and the Daily Freeman, Poughkeepsie Journal and Times Herald-Record alike.

We are dedicated to getting the most complete news possible in front of our readers as it becomes available. If that happens to be done digitally by an area news organization, we want to bring it to the attention of our readers. We don’t think that diminishes us in any way.

To my eye this morning, the Record story took a very methodical approach to the record of Steve Aaron, in part summarizing what we had previously reported (and attributing it to us) and compiling and reporting some new information about the breadth and depth of legal actions against Aaron. That’s why I chose to post a synopsis of the Record story, with links both to the full online story and to two previous stories published by the Freeman, one on Aaron's allegations of racism and anti-Semitism against the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency and the other on his recently approved housing project in the city of Kingston.

We ran today a sketchy story about an intrusion into a home on U.S. Route 9W, near Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides in the town of Esopus. A woman entered her home after dark to find two burglars in the residence. Admittedly, there wasn’t a lot of detail.

So, a reader wrote in a comment on our website:

court on 12/30/2011 09:05:02 said:
"What an interesting news article. Let me see if I got it wright. A lady comes home between Port Ewen and Esopus, finds two men in her home. We dont't know if they broke in, stole anything, if they had a weapon, were tall or short, fat or thin, black, white or brown, facial hair or not,
long or short hair, young or old, type or color of cloths nor what direction they went when they left. All we do know is that the lady wasn't hurt, thank God. THIS IS NEWS????"

Well, yes – yes, it is news. I’m somewhat astonished at the suggestion that it isn’t. It is, to be sure, incomplete news, but sometimes that’s all you have. 

But I would think that if someone in my neighborhood were to experience the same thing, this would be something I’d want to know about as soon as possible. Why? Well, I’d take special care to make sure my doors and windows and cars were locked, make sure my lights were on after dark, would take extra caution leaving and entering my residence, and warn my wife and son to do the same. I’d alert my neighbors so that everyone could watch out for one another. 

Readers are, of course, free to decide for themselves whether this story – or any story, for that matter – really concerns them. But saying it isn’t news to me is not the same as saying it’s not news more generally to others.