Former Indianapolis Star Editor is Flown to Spokane to Praise Former Public Safety Director Frank Straub; Raises Questions Whether Ryerson Suppressed Unfavorable Coverage of Straub During His Tenure at Newspaper (w/Update)

During his short-lived tenure in Indianapolis, Public Safety Director Frank Straub found himself the focus of numerous negative stories by the local television stations and by bloggers.


Dennis Ryerson

Yet there was one media outlet that never reported negatively on Straub, the Indianapolis Star.  Straub not only enjoyed the support of the newspapers' editorial pages, there was a complete blackout of negative news about Straub on the Star's news pages.   It was only after a change in leadership at the newspaper that negative stories about Straub began to be reported, such as the fact Straub had started a romantic relationship with a subordinate in the workplace.

Now we learn that former Star Editor-in-Chief Dennis Ryerson was flown out to Spokane to support the Straub in his appointment as "director of law enforcement" of that city.

Seriously? 

Not sure if Ryerson crossed some journalistic ethics line there, but his actions raise additional concerns about the editor's role in suppressing negative stories about Straub when he led the Star.   The Star suffered from dramatically falling ratings during his tenure, and one of the chief reasons cited by people in their decision to stop reading the Star was the newspaper's refusal to report critically on local government.  The Star's new leadership should take heed and not repeat Ryerson's mistakes.

UPDATE:   Upon retirement, Ryerson was to continue having an office at the Star along with a column.  A well-placed source says that the Spokane trip came at the same time Ryerson lost his office at the Star as well as his column.  Ryerson's "senior" status at the Star apparently is no longer.