Beneteau Interview: John Fairley's The Man

Another great inteview by John Fairley on Face-to-Face. This time of Marty Beneteau, the Editor of the Star. No wonder Councillor Brister was the only Councillor NOT to appear on John's show this year. He must have been afraid that John would rip him to shreds, in the nicest possible way of course!

As you know my issue with the Star is their failure to report on the fact that one of its Editors, John Coleman, is married to the Mayor of Windsor's Chief of Staff, Norma Coleman. We learned that not only is Beneteau aware of the possible conflict but so is the Star's publisher, and right from the start.

Beneteau tried to deflect the issue by saying that John is a man of the highest integrity. Who has doubted that? That's not the issue and it should not be personalized that way at all.

The issues are the Star's failure to report something that its subscribers should have known about a long time ago, not just a week before the election and its hypocrisy in running the story "Politicians' roles in media decried." The Star had the chance to talk about its situation as it discussed that of others but it chose not to do so.

The explanation given by Beneteau was very enlightening. You decide for yourself its significance:

• he gave no reason why the relationship was never reported
• he gave no explanation why Norma's appointment was made as it was
• we learned that John Coleman is Gord Henderson's editor, that they work collaboratively together and that they hash out ideas together
• we also learned that John Coleman does not take part in any discussions when it comes to the Mayor's office and recuses himself from the debate (but what about issues that impact the political position of the Mayor such as the border or the arena or Police Board or the coroner's inquest demand---is John involved?)
• we learned that Beneteau's Publisher helps him in navigating this
• we never did learn what John actually is allowed to do in his job and what he cannot do
• compare what the Star did with that done by the other papers mentioned.

Interestingly, I received this morning an email from a candidate sent to his mailing list complaining about the Star's coverage. Is it sour grapes from a candidate complaining about an incumbent getting in the press for doing his job. Or a complaint that is legitimate about how the Star is helping an incumbent get re-elected. The never-ending debate. You decide:

• "Dear friends,
  
  Do you want our local paper to fair, even and unbiased? If so please call or mail the Windsor Star. In the last 30 days one of my opponents has been mentioned in 14 different articles, and multiple times within the articles, the other 3 times and myself twice.
  
  The latest instance was by a columnist... "