JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – In a week that featured a rather quiet start to this year’s legislative session, the focus of journalists turned to one of the sleeper conflicts inside the Capitol building: The one amongst themselves.
Over the weekend, the Columbia Daily Tribune published a scathing story detailing lobbyist-funded parties at the offices of the Missouri Times, a newspaper started in 2013 by former House Speaker Rod Jetton and former Poplar Bluff Mayor Scott Faughn. The story was responded to by a pointed retort from Faughn, in which he alleged that the Tribune was only publishing the account now after the Times announced it would be distributing papers in its hometown.
(DISCLOSURE: The author of this post, Eli Yokley, worked as managing editor of the Missouri Times from March 1, 2013 to May 17, 2013.)
The Columbia Daily Tribune and the Missouri Times are members of the Missouri Capitol Press Association, an informal organization sanctioned by the General Assembly to manage state resources given to reporters covering the Capitol each day. A member of the association has access to available parking spots, office spaces, press gallery seating and the listserv of journalists maintained by the Missouri Senate.
The Capitol Press Association has a set of bylaws, one of which states that reporters should not succumb to the influence tactics used by lawmakers and the lobbyists they cover.
On Thursday, as part of a larger memo calling for a meeting of the association (including membership for the parent company of this publication, The Yokley Company), the association told members that it would be reconsidering the membership of the Missouri Times. That motion, said Jim Robertson, managing editor of the Tribune, came from Tribune reporter Rudi Keller, who wrote the paper’s story last weekend.
Not 24-hours later, however, the Tribune pulled the plug. A note to journalists said their meeting would still take place, but that Robertson had made the request that Keller’s motion be pulled from the agenda.
“I was unaware of the motion until late yesterday when I heard about it from an editor here,” Robertson said in an email on Friday. “Because of the reporting we’ve done recently involving legislators and the Missouri Times, it’s not good journalistic practice for the Tribune to initiate any such action.”
Faughn did not respond to an email requesting comment about the situation last night, but on Friday, he posted on Twitter: “Thank you for all of the encouragement, and thank you all for remaining calm about our capitol [sic] office situation, everything worked out fine.”