PressEthic

What happens when a major daily leaves out a fact?

Neil Young gets mad. Real mad. Then he tears up your newspaper at a press conference.

Before this year’s Farm Aid, the annual charitable event organized by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Cougar Mellencamp, the Chicago Tribune ran a story stating that “Farm Aid donated less than 28 percent of its revenue, according to a review of the non-profit's records and policies. An organization should be giving away at least 65 percent of its revenue to be considered performing adequately, said Naomi Levine, a New York University expert on philanthropy.”

Why was Neil Young so mad? According to Michael Miner, media critic for the Chicago Reader, Farm Aid gets high ratings from charity watchdogs. The American Institute of Philanthropy, which assigns letter grades based on performance, gives Farm Aid an A minus. As Miner said:

There's grade inflation everywhere, but that A-minus puts Farm Aid well above the average. AIP measures some 500 charities on the basis of a couple criteria: the percentage of their total expenses spent on programs, and the cost of raising $100. AIP flunks organizations that don't keep the first above 60 percent and the second below $35. Farm Aid's scores were about 75 percent and $17. That 75 percent strikes me as a real and important figure, the 28 percent of [Tribune reporter] George's story as more dramatic than significant.

Miner checked out other charity watchdogs, which had similar statistics. The Trib, however, told him that Farm Aid’s ratings were all over the place.

Young spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times after the Trib story ran, and said "We are not purely raising money to give to farmers . . . That's only a small part of what we do. We are available 24/7, 365 days a year to the American farmer. That's what we do. That costs a little bit of money." According to Editor and Publisher, after those expenditures are taken into account, Farm Aid’s annual report is on par with AIP’s findings.

When Miner called Naomi Levine, the NYU expert the Trib quoted, she told him that she didn’t remember talking to the newspaper, and that she “wasn’t sure she’d heard” of Farm Aid. He replied “You did speak to the Tribune . . . and they reported you said 28 percent was too small a cut of a nonprofit's revenues for donations. What about 75 percent of its expenses going to grants and programs?”

She said 75 percent sounded good.

Should the Trib have run the story anyway? Sure, but it should have incorporated the other data into the story. The problem then, of course, is that it might not sound like a much of a story.