Outsourcing

Many seasoned journalists develop a sort of great white whale of a story while they are plying their trade. This is a story that seems every bit as sensational as any Pulitzer-prize winning investigative piece, but remains just a few details short of going to press.

These articles be meddlesome for a writer fraught with the fear he or she might lose a stellar scoop to the competition if too much time lapses. In some cases, this fear can ultimately push less-seasoned editors and over-anxious journalists into running a story prematurely, when there are clear gaps in the reporting.

Such was the case with poorly reported piece appearing in the Metroland last week, which all but convicted Public Works fixture Tom McTygue of federal corruption charges. Strangely, just hours after the article was posted online, it was also posted anonymously on several area blogs, including iSaratoga.

The story itself basically lacks any identifiable source, save for Mayor Valerie Keehn, an ardent political adversary who is openly supporting a Republican candidate to oust fellow democrat McTygue from office. But even her voice is noticeably muted in the story. The strongest voices in the story are anonymous ones, claiming “about a dozen” people were interviewed by the FBI, but are too worried about retribution to discuss what the investigation is about.

But most noticeably absent was a voice from McTygue himself. The reporter was unable to track down McTygue, who was apparently “unreachable” all week long “because he would be out of town for personal reasons,” the article states. This excuse might hold water if the story was breaking at a daily newspaper, but not at a feature-oriented weekly.

In most reputable news rooms, a story claiming allegations of federal misconduct of a public official require a response from the accused. At the very least, the accused or someone speaking for the accused must decline to comment. True, this can slow down the news process to a molasses in January pace, but it’s an obligation –an onerous burden of proof even –that every good reporter must bear.

The Metroland whisked right by this precept and published an article that could easily be viewed as political hatchet job unless McTygue is soon led out of City Hall in handcuffs. There’s no doubt that he has his fair share of enemies and ones that wouldn’t think twice about manipulating information for political gain, a fact that makes the article seem more like a political hatchet job than anything else.

Top on the list is Keehn, who didn’t see anything suspicious about announcing her re-election bid on the same day as state investigators were picking through the Public Works garage off Division Street. Scirocco, McTygue’s challenger and a candidate deeply entrenched in a party renowned for its twisted campaign tactics, would be a close second on such a list.

And don’t forget Pat Design, McTygue’s feuding former deputy who is rumored to be Scirocco’s choice for right-hand man, if he’s elected to the council. Strangely, Design wasn’t interviewed for the story, unless he just happens to be one of the reporter’s sources; a possibility that sounds all too possible.

Another damning fact is that none of the area dailies –not even the oft presumptuous Saratogian –are jumping on the grenade unleashed by the Metroland. Often times, the mention of “federal investigation” and “public official” in the same sentence will spur some sort of response; at the very least an entry on one of the Times Union’s stable of blogs. But all of these newspapers remained silent on the issue, even during a late summer week where there’s scarcely little news to report.

True investigative pieces can be very revealing, as the Times Union has proven with their work following the FBI probe into Joe Bruno’s practices. Yet these stories take time and effort to hash through. In contrast, the Metroland piece fails to convey any pertinent information other than there may be a serious investigation hovering over McTygue and nobody has any idea what it’s about.

For a paper like the progressive-leaning Metroland, rushing to press with such an article seems to smack of bias. After all, the Spa City politician most often associated with the progressive movement is Keehn, the one who plans to benefit the most if McTygue is sent to the political graveyard.