BishopAccountability.org
	Frankly Speaking By Henry Walker Nashville Scene June 06, 2002 http://www.nashvillescene.com/2002-06-06/stories/frankly-speaking/ The Diocese of Nashville says The Tennessean is unfair After 12 years as a Tennessean photographer and assistant photo editor, Rick Musacchio left the paper in 1998, still on good terms with his former colleagues and bosses. Now the spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville is reluctant to communicate with Tennessean managing editor Dave Green or reporter Laura Frank, except by e-mail.“I feel like I have been repeatedly misquoted,” Musacchio says, “so I want everything in writing.” Since January 1999, the newspaper has published more than 60 stories about Edward McKeown, a defrocked priest now serving time for child molestation, and two $35 million lawsuits accusing the Nashville Diocese, in essence, of trying to cover up McKeown’s pedophilia. Frank, whose work on the earlier stories was commended in the Scene, wrote about half of them. “I’m not afraid of fair reporting,” Musacchio says, “but after a long history of unfair and biased stories [by Frank], you begin to draw certain conclusions.” Musacchio says he’s had numerous conversations with Frank and “six to 12” with Green, her boss, complaining about the paper’s coverage. Based on a review of Frank’s work, he has some valid points: ¦ Frank’s lengthy story two weeks ago, “Unsealed file on pedophile priest contradicts church statements,” was based entirely on unproven allegations and biased arguments made by lawyers who are suing the diocese. The “unsealed file” consisted only of two legal briefs, one by the plaintiffs’ attorneys and the other by lawyers for the church, which had been submitted to the state Court of Appeals. Moreover, most of the information—which was spread across the front page of the Sunday paper—had already appeared in The Tennessean a year ago, following a hearing in which the trial judge dismissed all claims against the church. ¦ Frank’s account seemed to accept as true the arguments in the plaintiffs’ brief without acknowledging contradictory statements by the other side. For example, she wrote that McKeown agreed in May 1989 to accept a ruling from the bishop which “leaves [McKeown] technically still a priest but with no formal assignment.” She pretty much borrowed that language from the plaintiffs’ brief. The church’s lawyers wrote, however, that McKeown “was removed from the priesthood” and was ordered “never again [to] perform priestly functions...to wear the clothing of a priest or hold himself out as a priest.” Frank left that out. ¦ After McKeown was defrocked, church officials say he became just another Catholic who attended St. Ignatius Church. But Frank wrote, “McKeown continued working with children at St. Ignatius,” as if he were still employed by the church. Worse, when the priest at St. Ignatius, Ed Alberts, moved to another parish, Frank wrote that Alberts testified, “It was not my responsibility” to warn his successor about McKeown’s sexual problems—a disturbing admission if McKeown was still “technically” a priest “working” at the church, but more understandable if McKeown was only a parishioner. ¦ Frank wrote that McKeown taught classes called “Evenings With Eddie.” Perhaps because of the name, she called them “youth classes.” Sources in the church confirm that the “Evenings with Eddie” were adult classes. ¦ In September 1996, the Nashville bishop drafted a letter to McKeown that, according to Frank, asked him “to stop bringing boys to Father Ryan football games.” But the letter doesn’t mention boys; it only tells McKeown to stop attending games. Three days later, the paper published a correction. ¦ Another priest testified that when the bishop first learned in 1986 that McKeown had molested a boy 14 years earlier, the bishop instructed the priest to report the offense to the state Department of Human Services. The priest described the call to DHS and his conversation with DHS employee Alice Reed, who told him it was not necessary to file a formal report because the victim was no longer a minor. Reed testified she had no recollection of the conversation, but she did not dispute the priest’s account. Here’s how Frank described the incident in an accompanying timeline to her story: “Diocese officials say abuse reported to Department of Human Services. No record exists.” She implied that the priest had lied. While avoiding the appearance of overt bias, Frank managed through innuendo, omission and what appears to be minor carelessness to convict the church of complicity in McKeown’s crimes. Not that the church is without blame. Even as described by the church’s lawyers, the facts indicate that church officials could have done a better job supervising McKeown after learning of his pedophilia. But, as the trial court ruled, that doesn’t make the diocese legally responsible for two boys McKeown molested years after he left the priesthood. In all likelihood, the Court of Appeals will agree. Frank is not entirely at fault either. Before publication, she sent excerpts of her Sunday story to Musacchio asking for comment. Citing a judicial gag order, the spokesman pointed out one error (which Frank corrected), but otherwise refused to respond.But in the end, it’s still the paper’s responsibility to be fair. Frank wasn’t. And it’s not the first time she’s bent the facts to fit her story. As one of the Tennessean staffers assigned to the paper’s year-long investigation of health and environmental problems at Oak Ridge, she was assigned to write about a report from a panel of experts who had looked into many of the paper’s allegations. Although the report essentially demolished the paper’s theories, Frank’s selective reporting made it appear to do just the opposite.
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