VOICES
Strings Attached
Adventures in grant-funded journalism
Like many reporters who pursue jobs in public radio, I wanted to work in a newsroom that wasn't driven by profit margins. But I recently learned the hard way that public broadcasters are not exempt from having to choose between journalistic integrity and the persistent need for cash.
During the summer of 2001, Philadelphia's all-news public-radio station, WHYY, entered into a "partnership" with a nonprofit media company. The company, GreenWorks, claims to create "independent" broadcast productions. As part of the deal, GreenWorks agreed to pay the salaries of two reporters and a researcher who would work on environmental stories, as well as their travel and equipment expenses. And it would also foot the bill for broadband access in WHYY's Harrisburg bureau, making it possible for about ten other Pennsylvania Public Radio stations to easily download and air the environmental reports.
I applied for the reporter job after seeing it posted on the WHYY Web site in July 2001. At one point in my interview with Bill Fantini, WHYY's news director, he said he would like me to meet the project's funder, and we were joined by Tim Schlitzer, executive producer of GreenWorks. Later, Fantini called to ask if I would mind working out of the GreenWorks office. I'm told he denies this now, but he insisted I would still be a WHYY employee. That soon changed. Schlitzer called to offer me the job in October, and I then learned that not only would my desk be at GreenWorks but that the company would be my official employer. Bill Fantini eased my concerns by assuring me that all editorial decisions would "live" at WHYY.
Grants are essential to public-media organizations. In fact, accepting foundation money is standard fare at WHYY. The Pew Charitable Trusts underwrites the station's arts reporter, as well as two Pennsylvania Public Radio correspondents assigned to the state legislature. And last year, a reporter covered urban affairs courtesy of a grant from the Thomas Skelton Harrison Foundation. But occasionally a grant comes with so many strings attached that it strays beyond the boundaries of these relationships and compromises the integrity of the news.
In this case, GreenWorks's Schlitzer played an influential role in determining editorial content. On my first day at work he met with me and my counterpart at WHYY, Brad Linder, to discuss story ideas. We were told that story meetings (which WHYY's Bill Fantini usually skipped) would be weekly. Given that Schlitzer had no journalism experience, I found that disturbing. But it turned out to be the least of my worries.
An early indication of troubles that lay ahead came in December. As I was planning a trip to Harrisburg, Schlitzer handed me a memo to submit when I checked into the hotel. The note — on a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) letterhead — asked for the government room rate since I was a state contractor. I asked Schlitzer why I would represent myself that way. He said it was merely administrative.
A few weeks earlier, I'd been asked to fill out a monthly progress report for DEP. I questioned why the state agency needed to be updated on my work. Agency officials simply asked to be "kept informed" about the radio project, Schlitzer responded.
Among the pieces Linder and I filed were stories on the challenges plaguing Philadelphia's recycling program and on drilling for oil in Allegheny National Forest. Schlitzer often chastised us for "focusing on the negative" and "covering environmental issues like everybody else."
By contrast, Schlitzer urged Linder and me to cover many "positive" stories of dubious merit. For instance, he suggested I file a story on Pittsburgh Voyager, a nonprofit organization that runs educational river cruises. A quick search of DEP's Growing Greener grants showed that the agency gave $92,960 to Voyager during 2000 and 2001. Schlitzer also proposed that Linder or I profile Pennsylvania CleanWays. Chapters of this volunteer group, which cleans illegal dumpsites, have received DEP grants totaling at least $87,330, according to the agency's Web site.
I was horrified at the thought of reporting on environmental issues while being paid by the state agency charged with environmental policy and enforcement. Initially I tried to push away fears that a conflict of interest existed. During WHYY's weeklong pledge drives, announcers relentlessly boast about the station's ethical and independent news coverage — and I believed them.
Still, my concerns led me to ask Schlitzer, on numerous occasions, whether DEP was sponsoring the public radio project. Each time, he insisted the funding came from "a variety of sources" and flatly denied DEP was the primary funder. He told Linder that, technically, GreenWorks didn't receive money from DEP for the radio project because the funds first passed through Washington-based ICF Consulting (as if knowing the money came from the DEP's public relations firm should be reassuring).
But the more I dug into the GreenWorks-DEP connection, the more I unearthed. In May, I looked up information on www.greenworks.tv, and discovered that the URL was registered to the home address of DEP Secretary David Hess.
Links to the GreenWorks site are plastered all over DEP's
own site. And while skimming DEP's online newsletter, I
came across the agency's "2001 Environmental Milestones."
Among them: "Daily GreenWorks Radio stories on public stations
around the state all showing the positive steps individuals, businesses,
farmers and local governments can take to protect the environment."
If GreenWorks is, indeed, an independent media company as Schlitzer
claims, one has to wonder why the Council of State Governments
chose www.greenworks.tv to receive its Best Innovation Award for
state government Web sites in 2000.
Since 1997, DEP and its sister agency, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, have awarded $4,758,268 in grants and contracts for GreenWorks to produce television shows, Webcasts, and a newsletter, according to agency spokeswomen. That figure does not include $510,000 for the radio project.
The more I learned, the less comfortable I felt working at GreenWorks. Had Schlitzer been upfront with me about the funding when I interviewed for the position months earlier, I would have made a beeline for the door. In January, Fantini had complained about my on-air delivery, and Linder began voicing my reports. In mid-March, Schlitzer pulled me off the WHYY partnership, assigned me to work on TV projects, and suggested I write articles for other outlets. We agreed I'd be happier if I started looking for another job. Then, in May, Schlitzer told me he liked my TV work and that I should consider myself a permanent employee. Less than a week later, he called me into his office and gave me the ax.
I was fired on May 15. The day before, the WHYY urban affairs reporter Mhari Saito wrote a letter to Fantini, the news director, threatening to quit because of her "serious reservations" about the GreenWorks partnership. Saito detailed facts that I'd discovered and shared with her.
Obviously, DEP and GreenWorks were intertwined. So why would WHYY enter into a partnership with an organization that has such a clear political agenda? Fantini phoned me May 25, apologizing for how things had turned out. He adamantly denied knowing that GreenWorks secured money for the radio project from DEP.
Nonetheless, the partnership remains intact, and Linder continues to be paid with the grant. After looking into Saito's concerns, WHYY management instituted a few changes. Schlitzer can still suggest story ideas to Fantini, but not to Linder. Registration of the www.greenworks.tv Web site was transferred from Hess to a GreenWorks employee.
Last December, local news directors in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg expressed concerns about GreenWorks stories, asking if the company was a thinly veiled publicity arm of DEP. And while WHYY built a firewall in June, WITF in Harrisburg still isn't carrying GreenWorks-funded pieces. And I have to agree that the mere appearance of a conflict of interest is enough to discredit environmental news stories made possible by a nonprofit heavily funded by DEP.
My six-month stint at GreenWorks taught me more about journalism ethics than any news reporting class ever could. Until last year, I would have insisted public radio stations were immune from quid pro quos. No longer quite so naïve, I will investigate my next employer just as thoroughly as I would the subject of my next story.
Following Strings
CJR fact-checker Ariel Hart adds the following details:
WHYY news director Fantini and station manager Paul Gluck insist there was a "firewall" between the station and GreenWorks from the beginning. Gluck says he was unaware of the joint story meetings. (Meanwhile, Fantini did free-lance work for GreenWorks.)
The funding comes through the state DEP's public relations contract with ICF Consulting. From that $510,000, GreenWorks pays WHYY $94,000 to spend on the environmental reporter Brad Linder and his reporting. Linder is thus paid by WHYY, and Shaffer was paid by GreenWorks. WHYY made no distinction between Linder's and Shaffer's job descriptions on its Web site, and aired all but one of her stories. Schlitzer claims he fired Shaffer because she was "bitter" at not being allowed to voice reports and was free-lancing on GreenWorks time.
As CJR went to press, WHYY notified us that it would discontinue its relationship with GreenWorks.
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