Denver KOA talk show host Mike Rosen made it a habit of ridiculing former Denver Post columnist Diane Carmen for not accepting his kind invitation to appear on his radio show.

In my column Sat, I complimented one of Denver’s local TV news stations, CBS 4, for promising not to release the names of men who may have been soliciting prostitutes from a high-end escort service, catering to lawyers, pro athletes, businesspeople and such.

Here’s CBS 4’s policy: “CBS4 is not identifying the customers without the clients confirming the information or law enforcement releasing the names.”

Ironically enough, CBS 4 announced this policy at the conclusion of a sleazy story about the alleged prostitution ring–a story based on an interview with a prostitute who described orgy-like parties at a fancy Denver club.

The story had little credibility, because the only source was the prostitute, who inherently lacks credibility. You wouldn’t expect any journalist to release the names of Johns simply on the basis of a prostitute’s interview. CBS 4 didn’t do this, even though the prostitute named three guys.

But strangely enough–or predictably enough for local TV news–CBS 4 couldn’t resist senationalizing an already sensational story by reporting the prostitute’s allegation that a robe with the name of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was used by partygoers, including prostitutes, at the Denver Club.

CBS 4 not only announced this, but actually asked Hickenlooper about it. He denied any connection to the prostitution ring, through his spokesperson. He plays squash at the club, along with many other Denver muckety mucks.

Given that the prostitute interviewed by CBS 4 did not say Hick was involved in the sex parties, and CBS 4’s information that many high-profile men attend the club, I don’t think CBS 4 violated its own policy by releasing Hick’s name in this context. Still, it was a stupid and potentially damaging way to add star appeal to the story.

Another CBS 4 story, broadcast later, actually comes closer to crossing the station’s own ethical line. The station reported that federal agents were searching email accounts of Brenda Stewart, the owner of the Denver Players escort service, which allegedly provided prostitutes for high-profile Denver men and for the sex parties at the Denver club.

In this story, CBS 4 actually named a man who told CBS 4 that he loaned money to Brenda Davis, but he told News 4 that “he had no idea she may have been involved in a prostitution ring.” He also denied knowing anything about Denver Players.

This wasn’t a violation of CBS 4’s own standard but it did violate the spirit of it–because you are left wondering if the guy who allegedly loaned money to Davis is lying. And what’s the news value of informing us that this man lent money to an accused prostitute. There’s little or no public interest benefit to doing this, just like there’s no public interest value, as CBS 4 says, in releasing names of Johns linked to Denver players–unless their names are released by law inforcement or they confess. An exception to this rule may apply if elected officials are involved.

CBS 4 definitely deserves credit for its policy on releasing the names of Johns, but it’s not above rushing to the gutter on this story either.

I trash local TV news a lot, for obvious reasons, but I know you get good reporting there sometimes.

The trick for local TV is to find ways to deliver substantive information on a regular basis, not just dramatic substance, as in the investigative stuff they do, but the run-of-the-mill information that citizens need to function in a democracy.

That’s why I like regular features like Denver’s KCNC (Channel 4) “Good Question,” which I mentioned briefly in my last column.

Here’s more from KCNC anchor Alan Gionet (his response to my emailed questions) about the feature:

For my last column, I interviewed Brad Jones, Managing Editor of FaceTheState.com. Here are some excerpts from my interview with him.

Jason: You say you produce credible journalism, and you deserve credit for some of your investigations and articles, but then you do strange things, like you don’t have bylines. Why?

Brad: That’s not strange at all. As a media observer, as you are, you’d know it’s standard practice for insider publications, and I’m thinking of industries like politics, entertainment, trade magazines, it’s standard practice to have staff reports for a number of reasons. One, we think the story is the story. It’s not the writer. And second, a lot of those stories are a product of a team of writers and an editor. This is a standard practice employed by plenty of other publications.

Jason: If you make the statement that you’re practicing high standards of journalism, you’d want to have bylines. I think that’s pretty much indisputable. You may be right that that’s the way they do it in some industry publications, but why wouldn’t you do that? Is it that hard to list three or four people if they contributed?

Brad: Well, the left has gone after me personally as the public face and managing editor of Facethestate.com. Vicious attacks on my professional behavior, which I am happy to have people be critical of, but also on my personal character, my past, and my professional endeavors. And I don’t wish that on my staff.

Jason: That comes with the territory.

Brad: Ahh. Ad hominem on reporters and staff? That absolutely does not come with the territory. I’ve been very dismayed at the behavior of some of our critics. Most of the criticism of Face the State has been about our structure, our funding, me, you know, it’s innuendo. It’s exaggeration. It has nothing to do with journalism. I think people should judge our news content on its merits.

I should add, Jason, that our staff reporters identify themselves as staff reporters for Face the State. Our staff makes it very clear as far as sourcing a publication that they are writing for.

Jason: The headlines you put above links to stories in the Rocky and Post and elsewhere can be misleading. Like the one about “Wacko environmentalists.”

Brad: Quite frankly, we’re having fun. Politics is fun. Political news is fun. The news aggregation is a great place where we can bring people the important stories from around Colorado, and it’s informative but also humorous in a light-hearted way sometimes. I don’t put, “This is a news report” on the top of the news aggregation… Our audience is very sophisticated. They get what we’re doing.

Jason: Why don’t you pursue journalism awards, like from the Society of Professional Jouralists. Colorado Confidential got some of these.

Brad: Quite honestly, I would think the SPJ’s political agenda and judges are more in line with Colorado Confidential’s agenda than with ours….We are helping to shape this new medium. I think we put out a quality product. We’re always happy to hear from our critics. We’re continuing to improve. Legitimate criticism doesn’t fall on deaf ears with us. We’re not here to please the Bill Menezeses [of Colorado Media Matters] of the world. I’m not. To be honest, a nasty rant from Colorado Media Matters reinforces that we’re doing the right thing. (In an earlier interview, Brad said, “If the Bill Menezes of the world are up in arms about me, I’m glad. I think Bill Menezes has a man crush on me, the way he obsesses on Face the State.”) 

Jason: That’s an extreme statement. I think you should hear what they have to say. Sometimes they have a legitimate criticism and sometimes they may not. You should try to have an open mind. Why not?