http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012201090320

The above link to Indianapolis Star reporter Heather Gillers' story Jan. 9 -- "Why the Capital clamor? Money" --- is typical of her skill as an investigative-style reporter.

While everyone else was climbing up on a perch and shrieking shrilly about this legislation, both for and against, Gillers did her homework and followed the piles of cash to the truth.

She wrote:

"Lawmakers insist this is a battle over principles. Republicans say the legislation will help bring jobs to Indiana. Democrats say it will lower wages.

"But political analysts say this battle is mostly about something else, something really worth fighting for.

"Power. And money...

"There is perhaps no more important constituent to Democrats than labor unions.

"They contribute money to help candidates run for election. They pour money into the state party. They help fund the political action committees that support party efforts.

"Since 2005, various branches of the AFL-CIO have given more than $1.2 million in state campaign contributions, almost entirely to Democratic candidates and committees. The Service Employees International Union gave $2.7 million, also mostly to Democrats."

That's solid reporting (she also nails R's for being the lap dog of business). The only criticism is that this story was long overdue; many of us already knew the hidden agenda, but it just did not get covered in print.

Gillers typically breaks out with her stories; she's tough and tenacious and thoughtful. No wonder she's leaving the Star and going to the Chicago Tribune, according to a source.

We wish her well.

Meanwhile, on down the street at Indianapolis Monthly magazine, what's the inside story on the abrupt departure of editor David Zivan? Indianapolis Business Journal's Greg Andrews reported Jan. 11 -- last Wednesday -- that Zivan "is out as editor after six years in the post." Nobody at Emmis would talk about the circumstances of his departure; Zivan himself simply said in an email he had "a great six years" and praised the staff as "terrific."

So what gives? Rumors are swirling. Better the truth?

Good luck to Zivan, too.

At the "church of the newspaper" this morning, I could not help but notice something -- or someone -- was missing.

Where is Erika D. Smith, metro columnist for the Indianapolis Star?

There's Matt Tully again, taking the turns at moderate speed, never hitting that curb. And while I like and respect Tully, he's too much of one thing: a little too cautious, too earnest, too, well, white/male/Hoosier/predictable (altho I like it when he has a rare foaming fit). Smith, with whom I do not always of course agree, is good when she goes out on a limb and takes on an alternative topic. Both, however, should avoid doing PR for local not-for-profits. Boooring, although of course good training for the next gig.

Anyhow, the Star's website indicates that that child has not had a byline since mid-December or so.  I called the newspaper, but of course, anytime before 8 a.m. means no service. (An unreal 10 a.m. if the issue is delivery).

So I checked on that big ole whore Facebook, where journalists are always lurking, lounging and letting it hang out. As Anthony Schoettle, media reporter for Indianapolis Business Journal, says, money follows eyeballs. Move those readers online, via FB or Twitter or whatever, then to the Star. A quick search for Erika shows that she has a totally open FB page where she tells the world her status. Hence she is accessible to all, not just friends.

Here is her update, posted Tuesday:

"OK people. I haven't quit or been fired. I promise I'm just on vacation. Look for a column this Sunday."

Whomever would dream EDS would quit or be fired? Just everyone. As Amos Brown of RadioOne/Afternoons with Amos/WTLC-AM noted the other day, "Gannett is soooooo dysfunctional."  Many healthy people leave.

But thank the newspaper gods, a few stay. So we'll look for EDS Sunday.

Thanks to Ray Moscowitz, board prez of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, for information on the other four inductees into the Hall of Fame on April 28.

Here are the others, for the record, as gleaned from their website:

http://indianajournalismhof.org/2012/01/hall-to-induct-five-new-members-first-service-award/

"The late Mark Ferree, a longtime senior executive of the Scripps-Howard newspaper company who was a national free press advocate as president of the American Newspaper Publishers Association in 1960-62. Ferree grew up in Marion, Ind., and was a writer for the Marion Chronicle before he attended Indiana University in the early 1920s. His career included stints as a reporter for the Evansville Courier, advertising director for the Indianapolis Times and vice president of the Richmond Palladium-Item.

"Steve Kroft, a native of Kokomo, Ind., who has been a correspondent for CBS’ 60 Minutes for more than two decades. He has won numerous national awards for stories such as the vulnerability of the nation’s power grid to computer hackers and the conflict of interests between military contractors and the government in the awarding of contracts. He was a Stars and Stripes correspondent in Vietnam before starting his broadcast journalism career and joining CBS News in 1981.

"The late Kate Milner Rabb, an author, historian and pioneering newspaper columnist. Rabb was a Rockport, Ind., native who wrote columns devoted to the state’s history for The Indianapolis Star from 1920 until 1937 — a time when few women had such opportunities. She was president of the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana in 1929-31, and a residence hall at her alma mater Indiana University was named in her honor in 1961.

"David Weaver, an Indiana University professor whose research on working journalists and on agenda setting in media have gained notoriety. Weaver joined the journalism faculty at IU in 1974 after earlier earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the university. He has written or co-written several books, three focusing on data about journalists he helped gather, published in 1986, 1996 and 2007, and others focusing on agenda setting."

Here is what was written about Skip:

"Skip Hess, who spearheaded numerous prominent investigative projects during more than 30 years as a reporter for the Indianapolis News and Indianapolis Star. His work included exposing inhumane treatment of mentally ill patients at state hospitals that led to state reforms in the 1970s, and disclosure of misuse of taxpayer money after which the state schools superintendent was convicted of official misconduct and the secretary of state repaid thousands of dollars. Hess worked at the Kokomo Morning Times and the Wabash Plain Dealer before going to Indianapolis. He has continued writing an outdoors column for the Star since retiring as a reporter in 1999."

Also:

"Walt Tabak will receive the hall of fame’s first Distinguished Service Award. Tabak spent 25 years providing technical support to Indiana newspapers and broadcast stations that receive The Associated Press. He is credited with helping steer many of the state’s newsrooms through technical changes that saw the delivery of wire stories and photos go from the teletype days to satellite transmission."

This is a stellar lineup. It's always impressive to read about the history of journalism and its stars, which brighten all our lives, or did so historically.

Best to all and to their families. A proud tradition lives on, despite "the troubles."

Longtime Indianapolis News and later Indianapolis Star reporter Howard "Skip" Hess, who has worn both investigative and fishing hats, has been inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to Skip, who probably worked harder and had more fun than anyone I ever saw in the Star newsroom.

Hess' induction ceremony will be April 28 in Bloomington on the IU campus, where the Hall of Fame is now located (it formerly was at DePauw University in Greencastle).

Here's some of what Skip had to say about his success in receiving this honor, which he incorrectly credits to various editors and colleagues:

-30-"

Say what you want about journalists, we know how to have fun. (The subject of which job is more fun came up in a conversation about Facebook and its uses with a young physician the other day; doctors, she explained, have to be cautious and would never dream of saying a word about a patient or any ethical matter on FB. Journalists always get to let it hang out....again, not a profession. Crafty craft.

Here are some of the players who nominated Skip: Kathleen Johnston, Gerry Langosa, Nancy Comiskey, Joe Hallinan and myself. Kathy, Gerry and Skip did major investigative stuff at the News, where Nancy was his editor. Then when the two papers -- Star and News -- merged, Nancy was again his editor in features, and I was his sub-editor. Pulitzer Prize winner Joe Hallinan -- just a corrigible fishing buddy.

Indianapolis attorney Kathleen DeLaney sent out a press release this morning -- it's an update on former Inidianapolis Star columnist Susan Guyett's age discrimination case against the Indianapolis Star.

The case will go to trial April 24 in U.S. District Court.

This is the start of justice being served. I hope Guyett gets a huge settlement, and that others who have been done wrong by Gannett take heart and get the message that fighting back can make a difference.

Here is DeLaney's press release:

 "The claim by former Indianapolis Star columnist Susan J. Guyett that her layoff from the newspaper in December 2008 resulted from age discrimination has been scheduled for trial by jury in United States District Court starting April 24. The Indianapolis Star is owned by Gannett Co., Inc.

"In December, Chief Judge Richard L. Young denied a motion by the Indianapolis Star to end the case. In his 17-page order (copy attached)1, Chief Judge Young said that the explanations by Star Editor and Vice President Dennis Ryerson for terminating Guyett while retaining younger staffers – and replacing her as columnist with a younger reporter – were contradictory and provided evidence supporting her claim sufficient to require a jury’s verdict on the age discrimination claim.

“'Plaintiff [Guyett] has cast doubt on the Star’s proffered reasons for the termination, and, accordingly her claim of discrimination is to be determined by a jury,' Chief Judge Young wrote in his order. Entry on Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (“Entry”), p. 16. The claim cites violation of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

"Guyett’s attorney, Kathleen A. DeLaney of DeLaney & DeLaney LLC in Indianapolis, IN said that the evidence showed that the Star artificially structured its layoff criteria to get around the paper’s union contract seniority protections and to hide age discrimination. “Instead of following the seniority provision in a fair and appropriate manner, the Star attempted to manipulate the provision’s meaning after the fact to justify Ms. Guyett’s
termination,” she said. “The Star terminated Ms. Guyett under false pretenses and replaced her with a reporter twenty years younger.”

"Susan Guyett wrote the popular “Talk of Our Town” column in the Star, the successor to the “Cityscape” column that she proposed to the Star, from 1999 until December 2008.

"At the time of the Star layoffs in December 2008, Guyett was 59 years old and had received positive performance appraisals. In fact, Ryerson had described her as “uniquely qualified” to handle “a very unusual beat,” according to Chief Judge Young’s order.

"In his order, Chief Judge Young said, “Replacing Plaintiff with [a 20 years younger reporter] indicates that the news reporters were not indispensible, as Ryerson claimed, and casts doubt on the legitimacy of the Star’s stated reason for Plaintiff’s termination versus reporters in the hard news department with less seniority.” Entry, p. 15.

"Chief Judge Young also wrote that excluding certain other reporters from the reduction in force raised suspicions as well. “Ryerson’s continuous narrowing of departments into sub departments in order to spare less senior reporters from the RIF [reduction in force] is evidence of pretext,” he wrote. Entry, p. 16.

"The trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. at the Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Indianapolis."