Freedom Magazine Exposes the St. Petersburg Times

Freedom Magazine Exposes the St. Petersburg Times

Freedom Magazine, the investigative reporting journal of the Church of Scientology has just published an update to their Inside the St. Petersburg Times Special Report done this past summer.

This is the editorial that explains the purpose of this new inside report on the St. Petersburg Times / Times Publishing Company.

“What happens when a newspaper fails to serve the community? After Freedom published its in-depth report on the St. Petersburg Times last summer, a number of  journalists formerly associated with the Times came forward. They related incidents at the Times which revealed serious violations of journalism ethics.

“When it was suggested to the Times that an internal investigation was in order, the paper’s attorneys declared the idea to be “preposterous.” The Times leadership apparently believes it is beyond the bounds of inspection—even from within its own ranks.

“Not only journalists think it’s time for a hard look at the Times. Freedom heard from readers and former readers who say it is obvious to them that the Times “goes after” individuals and organizations in the community—particularly those who work for community betterment.

“Emerging from the reader response to our exposé on the Times is a clear picture of a community that sees the paper as out of touch at best, too often utterly disdainful of the community it ostensibly serves, and from whom it takes
advertising and subscription dollars.

“In exchange for those dollars and public trust, the Times is supposed to report the facts and provide a true picture of the community.  Readers say it is failing at both.

“With Pew Research Center surveys showing that only 29 percent of Americans think news organizations get the facts straight, and with the St. Petersburg Times’ refusal to consider even some internal soul-searching, we have a true crisis.

“The mission of journalism is truth.  Journalists carry the mandate to provide a “fair and comprehensive account of events and issues,” as the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists sets forth.

“We all deserve a “fair and comprehensive” newspaper in Clearwater, but the Times refuses to bear that responsibility.  Because its leadership is unwilling to reform from within, we now turn the spotlight on them from outside.

“For this and subsequent special editions, we retained experienced and independent professional journalists and asked them to go find the facts, the truth this community deserves. We welcome your comments. —The Editors”

This edition of Freedom contains a story entitled, STEAL, BRIBE AND SPY about how Times Publishing Company, the parent of the Congressional Quarterly, has been accused of unlawful tactics to kill the competition in the lucrative government transcription business. This is based on a lawsuit filed by the Federal News Service that alleges that former Times Publishing board member and president of Congressional Quarterly used, “aggressive strong-arm tactics” and attempted bribery to take over Federal News Service.

In HYPOCRISY EXPOSED Freedom takes the parent company of Times Publishing, the Poynter Institute to task for failing to register its solicitation of donations with the state of Florida as required by law. For years, the St. Petersburg Times targeted local groups, campaigning loudly for enforcement of the Solicitations of Contributions Act, a Florida law aimed at overseeing charitable fundraising. Freedom reporters this past summer discovered that the Times owner Poynter Institute, which solicits donations on its website and elswhere, had itself never registered. Poynter hastily applied to the state.

JOURNALISM WITH AN AGENDA is a case study of major stories that the Times has done where they got it wrong and were caught pursuing an agenda rather than sticking to journalistic principles of accurate and unbiased reporting. The story culminates with the Kennedy vs. Times Publishing Company lawsuit which resulted in a $10 million judgment against Times Publishing Company.

Jim Romanesko, Poynter Institute’s highly paid media blogger, mentioned the new edition Freedom this morning on his blog in an entry entitled, Scientologists go after Poynter, St. Petersburg Times, CQ in magazine cover story

The Freedom also reports on the campaign by George Farrell a local St. Petersburg businessman to boycott the St. Petersburg Times due to their biased reporting.

A PDF version of the magazine can be found here:

Dr. Mendez-Villamil – 21 Months, 96,685 Prescriptions

Mendez-Villamil Accused of Over-prescribing Drugs

Dr. Mendez-Villamil reportedly wrote 96,685 prescriptions to Medicaid patients over the course of 21 months — about 150 scripts a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year according to the Wall Street Journal.

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES BOYCOTT

George Farrell calls for Boycott of the St. Petersburg Times

It’s been called a “Cult of Infallibility and Inerrancy” and in earlier days were referred to as “Pravda on the Gulf” and they may have upset one too many members of the community with their attack dog style of reporting attempting to blow up mundane matters from molehills into mountains.

I just received an email that’s making its way around Tampa Bay from one George Farrell who has organized a community based boycott of the St. Petersburg Times.

According to George:

“FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DOES NOT MEAN FREEDOM TO ATTACK, BELITTLE, HARASS, AND HUMILIATE PEOPLE OR THEIR BELIEFS.”

For all those who have their own reasons for agreeing, cancel your subscription! They are already selling off much of their company to stay afloat and this might just get them to wake up.

Here is an earlier message sent by George:

“BOYCOTT THE ST PETERSBURG TIMES”

“Please add this to you Facebook and Twitter pages.

“I am not asking any of you to stop reading the web edition of The St Petersburg Times or the free gossip edition. I am not asking you to carry protest signs.

“I am asking you to forward my emails to like minded individuals. I am asking you to cancel your newspaper superscriptions and stop buying in stores and from newsstands.

“This effort is picking up steam. I know this is like David against Goliath but we are doing the right thing for the Tampa Bay community.

“As a quick history review, The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days, thats over one year. Together, we can do this. The St Petersburg Times is already shedding assets to stay in business. In the last two years, they have sold The Congressional Quarterly, Governing, and Government Technology.

“Heres a quote from the Saturday November 21, 2009 St Petersburg Times regarding its fight to stay in business.

“Times Publishing will pour money from the sales into strengthening its other brands. They include the St. Petersburg Times, tbt*/Tampa Bay Times, Florida Trend and PolitiFact.com.

“‘We’re divesting our Washington, D.C., properties and putting the investment into the newspapers in the Tampa Bay market,'” Andrew Corty said

“Lets send Mr. Courty a message that we will shut The St Petersburg Times down no matter what they sale to stay in business.

“Someone asked what I would consider success. Short term, I consider success a 5% drop in sales for the month of December and 10% in January year over year. Long term, a sale or a cease of the printed publication.”

“George Farrell”

Dr. Mendez-Villamil Accused of Gross Overprescribing Psychiatric Drugs

According to the Miami Herald, a Miami psychiatrist by the name of Mendez-Villamil who writes prescriptions for Medicaid patients at a rate of 150 a day, seven days a week, has been targeted by a U.S. senator as an example of why the federal government should do more to investigate over-utilization of healthcare.

The story in the Miami Herald about Mendez-Villamil has lead to further revelations that has been covered in an Associated Press story about Mendez-Villamil entitled Feds investigating high prescribing Fla. docs which discloses that the federal government has stopped reimbursing Mendez-Villamil, who wrote nearly 97,000 prescriptions for mental health drugs to Medicaid patients over 18 months, in a case that prompted a key senator to call for a nationwide investigation.