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Inquirer apparently decides what reporting is most "authoritative"
City Paper editors object to an article in yesterday's Inquirer which called another newspaper's story as "more authoritative" than a story broken by CP intern Emily Apisa.
Inquirer apparently decides what reporting is most "authoritative"
Yesterday, a story appeared on philly.com in the Inquirer's print edition that we feel did a disservice to our intern reporter, Emily Apisa.
The piece, written by Melissa Dribben, focused on the efforts of La Salle University's student-run Collegian newspaper to print the details of an incident involving La Salle professor Jack Rappaport bringing strippers to a school lecture. According to Dribben, the student journalists initially planned to publish their story on April 7, but were forced to hold it by La Salle's administration.
The Collegian eventually ran its front-page story on April 14 — but not before Apisa, a La Salle student who is currently interning at City Paper. Apisa, who, like the Collegian, "had" the story long before it was published, managed to confirm its details and publish her article on CP's Naked City blog on April 8, before any other news outlet. (Two days later, Apisa was contacted by an Inquirer reporter who asked if she'd be willing to share her confidential sources. She, of course, did not.)
CP finds the Inquirer article's language — in particular the assertion that the Collegian was working on a "more authoritative" version of the story — to be inappropriate and insulting. Inquirer editor Avery Rome told CP on Friday that the phrase was used because the Collegian's story featured named sources, while the identities of CP's sources were withheld at their request.
While we appreciate Rome taking the time to go over the story, we reject this explanation as justifying the language chosen by Dribben.
La Salle's student journalists were only able to produce named sources after CP's story went national. And granting sources anonymity when warranted is regular practice at any serious newspaper, including the Inquirer. We are gratified that our story helped other students feel comfortable speaking out, but this was not the case before we broke it.
We also object to Inquirer article's highlighting of an apparent discrepancy between CP's reporting and accounts from La Salle students over whether "lap dances" were administered by the strippers. (This was the second of two articles by the Inquirer drawing attention to this question.) Not only does Apisa stand by her sources' accounts, but a third named student told an ABC television crew the same thing — using the phrase "lap dance" — before Dribben's Inquirer article was published. This fact was not mentioned in her piece; instead, her language implied that Apisa got it wrong.;
We feel the article was unbecoming of a newspaper of the Inquirer's stature and hope its editors and reporters will exercise more caution when addressing stories broken by other outlets. What's more, we question whether it is the Inquirer's role to tell its readers which news media or stories are "more authoritative" than others. We at City Paper consider our reporting to be as "authoritative" as any in the city and take pride in regularly breaking important, interesting stories for our readers.
Two CP editors, Associate Editor Drew Lazor and myself, posted comments on Dribben's article shortly after it appeared online late Thursday night. Those comments were published, but apparently had been removed (along with several others) by Friday morning. They are included below.
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[As posted, then removed, from philly.com]
My name is Drew Lazor and I'm the Associate Editor at Philadelphia City Paper. I'm also a proud La Salle University and Collegian alum. I salute Vinny Vella and Luke Harold for sharing the Rappaport story with the La Salle community, but I must say that Melissa Dribben's implication that CP's account of the story is inaccurate is unfair. What this article fails to point out is that Emily Apisa, the writer who broke the story for CP, is a La Salle student, just like Vella and Harold. Apisa, who is currently interning at CP, presented us with this idea weeks ago. After working diligently to secure sources and vetting the story with both CP's editorial staff and La Salle's administration, we published her report on citypaper.net, and the newspaper stands behind it. I'm not taking anything away from the student journalists' efforts; as a former Collegian staffer, I'm intimately familiar with the administration's talent at squelching unflattering press. I simply implore the Inquirer to give credit where credit is due. Apisa was the first to break this story and she did everything right in the process. Don't take that away from her just because she beat everyone — including the Inquirer and Daily News — to the punch.
Drew Lazor
La Salle University Class of 200
Collegian Senior Staff Writer and Commentary Editor, 2003-2006
drew.lazor@citypaper.net
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My name is Isaiah Thompson, and I am the editor of City Paper's news section.
The language of Ms. Dribben's article — in particular her suggestion that the Collegian's take on the Rappaport story was "more authoritative" than City Paper's — maligns the fine work of Emily Apisa. A La Salle student journalist herself and an unpaid intern for City Paper, Apisa broke this story by herself, through sheer diligence. Like the other student journalists mentioned, she "had" the story long before it was formally published. She worked day and night to verify what she had heard from a single student — despite the fact that unconfirmed rumors of the event were already widespread. Apisa got this story because she worked harder than any reporter in Philadelphia.
Isaiah Thompson
News Editor, Philadelphia City Paper
isaiah.Thompson@citypaper.net
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