AJR Investigates Dallas
Newspaper's Air Quality Editorials

In both its news and opinion pages, the Dallas Morning News earned a 
reputation for being tough on the air quality record of U.S. Rep. Joe 
Barton, a Republican from Ellis County, Texas, who chairs the House 
Energy and Commerce Committee.

In a March 2004 news story, for instance, the newspaper disclosed that 
Barton had pushed to exempt Ellis County from the toughest anti-smog rules 
being applied in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, adding that the effort "could 
directly benefit two corporations linked to Barton campaign donations." 
(See April 2004 Reading Rack.)

In editorials, the Morning News went after Barton with a vengeance, 
ridiculing him as "Smokey Joe" and warning readers to keep a wary eye on 
his maneuvers affecting the Dallas-Fort Worth region's air pollution 
problems.

More recently, however, clean air advocates have been asking whether the 
newspaper has softened its criticism of Barton in a particularly direct 
way -- the dismissals of two key editorial writers in a sweeping round of 
layoffs last October.

This hypothesis is closely examined in "Smokey Places," an article by 
Charles Layton in the April-May issue of the American Journalism Review 
(AJR), which accompanies a longer piece by Layton in AJR, "The Dallas 
Mourning News." He investigates the reasons that the newspaper 
management decided to slash its workforce by 150 employees, including 
65 newsroom workers -- slightly more than 10 percent of the journalists there.

"Regrettable as the layoffs were at the Dallas Morning News, there might 
have been a silver lining for at least one very important person: Joe 
Barton," Layton writes in "Smokey Places."

The possible reason, he suggests:
"Before they were laid off in October, two of the News' editorial writers, 
Timothy O'Leary and Jim Frisinger, had given Barton a very hard time, 
accusing him of using sneaky legislative maneuvers, regulatory loopholes 
and plain old political pressure to protect some of North Texas' worst polluters."

Layton explains that "local advocates for clean air drew comfort from 
these editorials," but now "fear that political pressure may have played a 
role in the two writers' departures," resulting in "what (the advocates) 
perceive to be a toned-down editorial policy."

"Smokey Places" reveals a private meeting between Barton and two top 
News executives, publisher James M. Maroney, III and editor Robert W. 
Mong, Jr., in which Barton "argued that the News was wrong about the 
dangers of air pollution in his district."

The article quotes Mong saying he did not ask Keven Ann Willey, editor 
of the editorial page, to soften its criticism of Barton, but acknowledges 
that he did order a halt to use of the nickname "Smokey Joe."

Willey is quoted denying both that the editorial department has eased its 
stance toward Barton and Ellis County polluters, and that political 
pressure played any part in the dismissals of O'Leary and Frisinger.

Layton notes that Barton's Energy and Commerce Committee "handles 
legislation affecting media companies," including the Morning News' 
owner, Dallas-based Belo Corp.

Asked about Barton's role related to Belo's business activities, its 
chairman, president and CEO, Robert W. Decherd, defies "anyone to 
cite and prove up a single instance where we have compromised the 
journalistic integrity of this company."