The power of a publisher

Roldo Bartimole, a longtime critic of the Plain Dealer and an independent Cleveland journalist, has reported on Machaskee's perceived misdeeds for more than a decade in a self-published newsletter (no longer in circulation) and through his column that has appeared in local alternative publications over the years. Indeed, one of Bartimole's first pieces on Machaskee's rise to power chronicled a long list of complaints lodged against him by editors and reporters at the Plain Dealer. It also cited the nickname he earned for how he acted on his way up the corporate ladder: "The Snake."

Machaskee began at the paper as a "promotions department flack," as Bartimole put it. His lack of journalism experience prompted him to seek membership in the journalism fraternity Sigma Delta Chi -- unsuccessfully. And he may even have played a role in turning Cleveland into a one-paper town. In a book by Jim Neff titled "Mobbed Up," Machaskee is reported to have asked Teamster boss Jackie Presser to make trouble at the rival paper, the Cleveland Press, which folded in 1982. Machaskee has denied the allegation.

A former executive editor at the paper who was pushed out by Machaskee told Bartimole in February 1990 that Machaskee's assent to publisher "means the continuation of the encroachment into the newsroom from the business side." Although the comment may just be the sentiment of a disgruntled former employee, Machaskee's meddling on the editorial side has been constant, from spiking columns that reported unpleasant things about advertisers to demoting editors who shifted the placement of ads to accommodate editorial content.

In an outline of a speech he was to deliver years ago, obtained by Bartimole, Machaskee wrote, "[Reporters] seem all too ready to accept the line of various consumer activists, many of whom are acting to fulfill various personal agendas which often have nothing to do with the public good. These reporters too often fail to adequately report the utility industry's side of a rate hike request, for example. Nuclear power's long range benefits and its total acceptance in other countries, for example, are often overshadowed in reporting by the uninformed fears foisted on the public."

Notably, the very utility he was defending has a long and sordid history in Cleveland. Most recently, in August 2003, it was the cause of the largest blackout in U.S. history. It also is the owner of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, which has been repeatedly shut down by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for major safety violations.

It's not just on internal matters that Machaskee has breached accepted ethical boundaries. When Cleveland Mayor Michael White (who finished his third term in office in 2001) was feuding bitterly with the Cleveland City Council, Maschaskee took it upon himself to go down to City Hall and offer his personal services as a peacemaker. That nobody had invited him seemed a matter of little concern.

In another incident, Machaskee flexed his muscle with the local National Public Radio station, WCPN, by demanding that it provide more ethnic programming. His heritage is Serbian, and some have speculated -- oddly enough -- that this had something to do with the endorsement meltdown. Markos Moulitsas Zúniga wrote in his weblog Daily Kos last Saturday that Machaskee was put off by the fact that former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, whom Machaskee considers an enemy of Serbia because of the Kosovo war, was dispatched by the Kerry campaign to press for an endorsement.

Zúniga wrote: "Word has it that after Holbrooke met with the editorial board and left the room, Machaskee looked around the room, crinkled up his nose, and said, 'Now we're gonna have to fumigate this place.'"

But one Plain Dealer reporter says that Machaskee and Holbrooke were never in the building at the same time. Besides, Machaskee has a history of overruling his editorial board for reasons having nothing to do with his Serbian heritage. Two years ago, the board voted to endorse Republican Gov. Bob Taft's Democratic opponent, but Machaskee stepped in and Taft got the nod instead.

Aside from that incident, Machaskee's meddling with editorial had receded a bit since Editor Doug Clifton took over in 1999. Clifton has largely been credited with turning a beleaguered newspaper into a mediocre one -- no small feat, given the declining state of northeast Ohio's business climate and a continuing loss of college-educated people from the region. "It's my understanding that Alex and Clifton are feuding over this endorsement," noted another Plain Dealer reporter. "Since Alex has had problems with editors in the past, Newhouse told him when Clifton came on board that he better not have a problem with this one. So it looks like Clifton got a partial victory with the non-endorsement."

Over 65, Machaskee is already past retirement age and perhaps isn't as powerful as he once was. "Machaskee has obviously lost some stature because [the editorial board] is not doing what he wanted them to do," says Bartimole. "There's been a combination of resistance from within and bad publicity from without that caused them to try to cut their losses to come up with this silly no-endorsement editorial."

The paper may have cut its losses, but many reporters were left wondering why it didn't just write an endorsement of Kerry and give Machaskee space to make his case for Bush. After all, if readers are capable of making up their own minds, as the Plain Dealer said in its non-endorsement, then why not give a full airing of the debate? What's more, because most readers don't necessarily understand the relationship between a publisher and its editorial board -- which could have been explained -- the non-endorsement has left some with the impression that it might become a metaphor for another stolen election.

"I think the endorsement was stolen from Kerry," said Ellie Sullivan, a task force chairwoman for Ohio Women for Kerry. "I think that it's illustrative of the despotic management style that exists at the Plain Dealer. But they had to backpedal. That was a minor victory. I think that it's better not to have an endorsement than to endorse Bush, but still it was a robbery."

This story has been corrected since it was published.