Unfair!

The CNMI and its people deserve better, fairer coverage from your newspaper than they have received regarding the Verizon sale. This is a longstanding issue for our office and our clients. We hope in the future that you will give our clients or their representatives a chance to give their side of the story and not just run with the rants of our clients’ opponents.

A story in the Oct. 22, 2004, edition entitled “Verizon sale to benefit NMI” is a typical example of the coverage of this important matter. As usual, the story quoted Verizon and PTI representatives extensively and gave short shrift to the positions of our clients, the Governor and Office of Consumer Counsel. By a quick count on the Internet version, the story contained 91 lined of coverage favorable to Verizon/PTI’s side with only 14 lines mentioning the government’s position on the issue.

Routinely, representatives of the Verizon/PTI position, such as Ricky Delgado, Tony Mosley, Marcia Schultz and their cadre of biased commentators, are quoted at length attacking the government’s position. However, the Tribune rarely, if ever, contacts this Office or its clients (other parties to the proceeding) for a response to the allegations—choosing instead to print the Verizon/PTI side wholesale. The Verizon/PTI side is consistently given front-page treatment (often with banner headlines to boot), while any mention of the government’s position (if covered at all) is buried in the back pages. Moreover, rarely does the Tribune cite any of the actual issues raised in our filings, or any of the government’s public policy rationales contained within our arguments.

With this one-sided reporting it is almost as if the Saipan Tribune has become a third party litigant in this proceeding by joining the PTI side, without explicitly saying so. Of course, what is really going on is that the Tribune is attempting to control the outcome of the proceeding.

While the Attorney General’s Office, of course, knows the First Amendment protects freedom of the press, we also believe that your company, as an alleged unbiased reporter of current affairs in the Northern Mariana Islands, has a duty to report the news in a fair and balanced manner, especially in a matter of such importance to the CNMI. It is ironic that a quote in yesterday’s article liken the government’s position on this sale as being akin to something like what would be expected in Cuba, Burma or North Korea. It is not. Verizon, PTI, and the government are all simply exercising their rights to appear before CTC and have their positions heard. Unlike the press, CTC is treating all the parties in a fair manner. On the other hand, such one-sided reporting of issues of importance is what one would expect from a newspaper in the countries of Cuba, Burma and North Korea.

We hope that you will consider these comments in your future reporting of this and other issues of importance. The CNMI and its people deserve fairer coverage than what they have received. Your continued biased reporting disappoints us all.

Clyde Lemons, Jr.
Acting Attorney General

James D. Livingstone
Assistant Attorney General
Counsel for Governor Babauta

Brian R. Caldwell
Assistant Attorney General
Counsel for Office of the Consumer Counsel