The truth isn’t always popular
By JOE GRATA
NBC’s weekly “Meet the Press,” the longest-running public affairs show in American broadcast history, debuted on small black-and-white television sets on Nov. 6, 1947.
A program along the lines of “Hate the Press” would be more appealing to President Donald Trump in today’s mixed-up, politicized world.
It has been that way since Jan. 20, 2017, when Trump claimed the crowd at his inauguration was the largest in U.S. history despite the fact that the media and experts they consulted proved otherwise.
He frequently and unabashedly lashes out at reporters as “enemies of the people” and accuses them of delivering “fake news.”
Having spent a lifetime as a member of the media that he deplores, as a news writer and columnist with more than 10,000 bylined articles spanning 60 years, as author of some unflattering and arguably vitriolic pieces, I assume the president includes me as one of those “unpatriotic” and “pathetic” reporters.
His comments have prompted folks to wonder if I’ve ever engaged in reckless, self-serving, irresponsible journalism during my career.
“Have you made enemies?” I’m asked. “Have you been threatened? Do people hate you?”
Of course.
I’ve never gone out of my way to adversely influence a situation or to destroy someone’s reputation, but it has happened as a consequence of doing my job. That is, ferreting out truth, presenting facts, revealing sometimes unpleasant circumstances, protecting the First Amendment, upholding journalistic ethics and maintaining public trust.
Here are a half-dozen headline-grabbing articles and personal experiences I share as examples that often made me feel as uncomfortable as the people and subjects I wrote about.
• Dr. William Montgomery resigned as chairman of the Port Authority of Allegheny County after I reported in a November 1984 edition of The Pittsburgh Press how he used his position there to promote his profitable minority-owned bus repair-maintenance business. He was director of the University of Pittsburgh’s community and urban relations office at the time.
• Sam Anthony resigned as PAT vice chairman in October 1996, the day after I detailed in four related articles how he and friends tried to illegally influence who got jobs and did business at the transit authority and county sewage authority. He was part of a wealthy family in the industrial crane business.
After his departure, myself, former PAT CEO William W. Millar and his successor (later Penn-DOT secretary) Allen D. Biehler were awarded symbolic “white hats” as whistle-blowers at a private party held by corporate and political bigwigs.
• The superintendent of the Pittsburgh Division of the B&O Railroad ordered me not to go to the scene after Amtrak’s “Capitol Limited” derailed southeast of Layton around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, May 29, 1984, injuring 23 passengers heading to Washington, D.C.
I defied his order, hitched a ride on a rescue truck and saw that five of the eight cars ran into a section of tracks that pulled apart when ballast and part of an embankment underneath had been washed away by a rainstorm. Knowing no freight trains operated on the line over the long Memorial Day weekend before the Amtrak train passed, circumstances that led to the cause of accident was a no-brainer. The railroad boss, Dave Daniels, admonished me for not waiting for the outcome of a formal investigation before reporting the cause despite what had occurred was obvious.
• Officials learned I was preparing an article for The Press in August 1999 involving Deborah Eckert Jubelirer, 43, whom I learned posed nude in the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s Harrisburg-area administration building (including the commission’s meeting room). Separated at the time from state Sen. Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, she held a well-paid, politically appointed position as assistant deputy executive director in the turnpike’s marketing department.
Despite denials and claims that the matter had been investigated internally and “closed,” and after learning the newspaper was moving ahead with publication, Mrs. Jubelirer resigned. The computer tech who took the photos using a turnpike-owned digital camera was fired.
• As many as 14 state turnpike officials and some spouses planned to attend an expenses-paid October 1989 convention of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association on a place I called “paradise,” Palma de Majorca, a sunny, swank Spanish resort island in the Mediterranean Sea.
After writing about the junket in advance, the number of would-be globetrotters dropped to six as a result of public backlash. I was the only reporter to show up at the party, arriving at the host hotel a day early so my smiling face could greet the Pennsylvania attendees as they arrived for check-in.
I wrote about gourmet meals, cocktail receptions and special entertainment in a series titled, “Road to Majorca,” making me the most unpopular person in Palma after word spread and news reporters from other states started inquiring about “delegates” from agencies that they covered were freeloading at others’ expense.
After several years of alleged “bad publicity” and a belief I was targeting the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, a half-dozen of its top officials asked for a special hour-long meeting with The Press editorial board to make their case.
After brief introductions, then Editor in Chief Angus McEachran announced he had three questions: Did Joe ever lie? (“No.”) Did Joe ever ask for a personal favor or accept anything of value? (“No.”) Did Joe always give you an opportunity to present your side of the story? (“Yes.”)
McEachran abruptly rose from his chair at the head of the table. He declared, “Gentlemen, this meeting is over. Have a nice day,” and he walked out.
Turnpike officials sat there, red-faced, stunned and bewildered. It was the last editorial board meeting ever between turnpike officials and The Press editorial board.
Was I an “enemy of the people?” Did I create “fake news?”
You decide.
