The Letter from Susan Ernest

Hi Julie,
Sorry it took me so long. I wasn't around my computer today.
S

March 4, 2010

To:
Gary Person
Jordan Ball
Jo Houser
Geri Anthony
John Henke
Members of the Sidney City Council



Due to the conflict that has gone on in the past couple months there have been changes made to the process of obtaining public information from City Hall. While I do not disagree that the changes have been made I am concerned by the so called “equality and fairness” that a blogger recently claimed. I have no issue with filling out the newly formed “freedom of information” paperwork, paying five dollars for the DVD of the council meetings or even paying ten cents per copy when we request information. Other government entities that KSID requests information from have their own rules. All of this came about in order to “make it fair for all media”. Even the media packets have changed so that Mike Rowland doesn’t have to come to City Hall to pick up the media packets that are made available to anyone upon request. Again I don’t have a problem with this new procedure as it was convenient and worked well. However, KSID, The Sun Telegraph and a few other citizens are the only ones abiding by your new rules. Mike Rowland, blogger of Guardian news, only emails his questions and actually receives answers to those via email by city personnel. Responding to emailed questions only enables that information to possibly be skewed by changing the wording and forwarding it on to others. He has not filled out the “freedom of information” paperwork or pay for anything, yet he screams inequality the loudest.

I received a phone call from the city attorney, offering the page he read during the council meeting on Tuesday evening, February 23rd. He stated that since the “blogger” had requested it that he would offer it to us and the Sun Telegraph. While I greatly appreciated the effort put forth by Jordon Ball to make sure all was “fair”, Mike still did not sign the paperwork for “freedom of information” and did not have to pay for the copy or the postage as it was MAILED to him. In addition, the time Mr. Ball spent on this foolish request is billable to the city. I thanked Mr. Ball for the offer of the paper but declined a copy.

The grand slam was the fact that this “blogger” took the seat of the local newspaper reporter at the press table during the February 23rd council meeting. While I will not argue whether or not this “blogger” has the right to be there, I do believe he needs to go through the proper channels to get his seat at the table.



KSID has been covering Sidney City Council news since 1952.
Below is a list of our credentials as a longtime reputable community news source:
1952-2009 ABC Radio Affiliate. Paul Harvey did his 15 minute newscast from the KSID studios in 1955.
1952-Present: Member and contributor of the Associated Press
1954-Present: Member of National Association of Broadcasters.
2002-2003 Susan Ernest serving two years on the NAB Small Market Radio Board
2004-2005 Susan Ernest receiving all expense paid scholarship to attend the NAB Broadcast Leadership Training class. One weekend per month for one year, all expenses paid to Washington D.C. for women and minorities who are purchasing radio/television stations.
1952-Present: Member of Nebraska Broadcasters Association
David W. Young served as Director, President and is in the NBA Hall of Fame
David S. Young served as Director for 3 terms
Susan Ernest served 2 terms as Director 2004-2008
1988-Present: Affiliate of the Husker Sports Network
Affiliate and Contributor of Nebraska Radio News Network
Dave Collins regularly contributes stories that are broadcast throughout Nebraska
Affiliate Learfield Broadcast Network
Affiliate Brownfield Radio Network
2009-Present: Affiliate with Fox Radio Network
2006-Present: Member IBIB International Broadcasters Idea Bank

Since 2005 KSID has been the recipient of 17 news cast and sports play by play awards through the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and the Northwest Broadcast News Association.

KSID also has www.ksidradio.com and is a member of the Associated Press on the web as well.
Some statistics on our website include:
Page views from Jan 1, 2009 through Dec 31, 2009 were 1,982,054.
Jan 2010 total page views were 212,490
Feb 2010 total page views were 227,277.
I would estimate our numbers for 2010 will be over 2.4 million.
www.ksidradio.com averages 30 listeners per game per station on our streams.
www.ksidradio.com averages 40 listeners online daily during Swap Shop.

Where are Mr. Rowland’s credentials and why is he allowed to circumvent the rules the city has put forth? The counter on his blog says 4,100 for one year. While I agree there is a large trend in blogging/journalism that should not be ignored, any media outlet/journalist or even a real blogger, would not publish innuendo or hearsay, yet he does. He also published a slanderous, anonymous letter on his blog. Again I reiterate, his BLOG. In searching news blogs and bloggers, it is in bad form to “publish” such information under the guise of a true journalist, especially when these so called journalists are fighting for the legitimacy of their blogs.

I think if you look at the Sun Telegraph’s credentials as well, you would find a long and impressive list of affiliates and awards. You would also be able to get information on their circulation, web page views etc.

The fact that Mike Rowland had to arrive so early to take someone else’s seat at the table without first providing credentials or asking is a slap in the face to paid professionals trying to do their jobs. If Mike wants to be considered “press or media” he needs to provide his credentials and follow the rules you have set forth for the rest of us.

Sincerely,





Susan Ernest, GM KSID Radio Inc. Pres/CFO Dead-Short Broadcasting LLC



On Sat, Mar 13, 2010 at 2:17 PM, Julie Young wrote:
Could you send me a copy of the letter you sent? I would like to post it on my blog so people could read the entire letter and not just hear one side of it.

Julie