Conference Platform

Dakota Blog Alliance
August 14, 2004

Augustana College

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

THE SIOUX FALLS PLATFORM:

AN AGENDA FOR ARGUS LEADER REFORM


WHEREAS, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader has become a powerful print media monopoly in Southeastern South Dakota;

WHEREAS, a pattern of chronic political bias has been uncovered at the Argus Leader;

WHEREAS, opinion columns of biased writers continue to run on the news page of the Argus Leader and are not properly designated as opinion;

WHEREAS, local pro-Democratic opinion columnists in the Argus Leader are not balanced with voices from the other side of the spectrum;

WHEREAS, many stories reported nationally which are critical of US Senator Tom Daschle are not reported by the Argus Leader;

WHEREAS, the Argus Leader has, in the past, run numerous and thoroughly researched stories scrutinizing Republican politicians;

WHEREAS, the Argus Leader’s political editor is an individual who views Republicans as “evil” and in the past has lauded and praised US Senator Tom Daschle;

WHEREAS, to date, the leadership of the Argus Leader has treated criticism with hostility and has not addressed the complaints of its critics;

WHEREAS, other newspapers which have recently suffered through difficult periods of outside scrutiny have hired public editors, or ombudsmen, to address public concerns;

WHEREAS, the Argus Leader does not have enough resources dedicated to covering the important US Senate race in South Dakota and therefore important stories and analyses are not completed;

WHEREAS, the Argus Leader is thought to be very profitable (46% margins) and could reasonably hire an ombudsman and more political reporters;


BE IT RESOLVED, that the Sioux Falls Argus Leader should adopt the following reforms:

1) hire a permanent ombudsman, similar to those hired by The New York Times and Washington Post, to review and assess public complaints about the Argus Leader;
2) move opinion writers to their proper place on the opinion page;
3) balance locally-based liberal opinion columnists with a local voice from the other side of the spectrum;
4) place an individual in charge of political reporting who has not called Republicans “evil,” treated Republicans with disdain, and praised US Senator Tom Daschle;
5) run the dozens of stories critical of US Senator Tom Daschle from the last few years that the Argus Leader ignored;
6) release the financial statements of the Argus Leader for the past 5 years so the public understands that hiring an ombudsman and additional staff is affordable;
7) disclose all future media acquisition plans to the general public.