Photo at DUI checkpoint brings suit against Mt. Lebanon Magazine
A Washington County man sued the managing editor of Mt. Lebanon Magazine along with a photographer whose work appeared in the magazine, claiming defamation.
John W. Pinto of Cecil filed an arbitration claim Thursday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against managing editor Merle Jantz and photographer George Mendel. Pinto is seeking $35,000.
According to the court filing, Pinto claims the defendants published a photograph of him standing near a police officer at an apparent drunken driving checkpoint in 2012. His face was blurred in the photo.
He said the magazine wrote that his Volvo was the first vehicle to enter a DUI checkpoint on Washington Road and talked about field sobriety tests.
Pinto said the magazine falsely conveyed to readers that he was arrested for drunken driving. Pinto was not arrested, according to the lawsuit.
Magazine editor-in-chief Susan Fleming Morgans referred comment to Mt. Lebanon's solicitor.
Update October 18, 2013 12:11 AM Man sues Mt. Lebanon Magazine for defamation
Update October 19, 2013 5:33 PM Article is on page 36-37 here in the September 2012 issue of mtl Magazine.
47 comments:
Oh thats too bad.
12:18 It is too bad, especially because THE TAXPAYERS IN MT. LEBANON WILL BE PAYING FOR THIS!
THANKS MT. LEBANON MAGAZINE!
Who is Merle Jantz?
Merle Jantz - interesting. I was recently disturbed by one of his articles too. Perhaps it is time to get rid of the entire magazine. Or wait, do WE have to pay the cost of their irresponsible journalism?
Merle Jantz is the managing editor of mtl Magazine. He authored "new trash, recycling contract on deck" on lebomag.com. I was confused by his article since there was no mention of PAYT.
Why wasn't Susan Morgans sued? She is the public information officer and senior editor of mtl Magazine.
Elaine
The writer should be fired and his boss suspended w/o pay if the Municipality settles or loses the suit.
If MTL magazine were a private publication and the municipality only contracted with it for a set number of pages like any other advertiser, the community wouldn't be involved or on the hook for any of this.
12:17PM, that is certainly an interesting idea that should be entertained. I would imagine that a advertising revenue and subscription fees would make up the difference in the lack of funds from the Muni. Plus, it is a more environmentally friendly option as a lot of unwanted/unread magazines are thrown out.
Damion, The editor constantly declares that the magazine is self-sustaining financially (though when you consider lights, office space, benefits thru the municipality, etc. that might not be exactly true) so privatizing is a perfect way for the municipality to divest itself of some expenditures.
The municipality is trying to get out of the responsibilty of paying for garbage collection, why not get rid of the magazine, the page rate shouldn't be anymore than rates for other advertisers.
If it is, i'll bet INMTL would gladly love to have a contract for a years worth of municipal advertorial pages.
As you say Damion, it would also be an environmentally sound idea.
Why print, deliver and send to a recycler magazines people don't want.
Besides, there is nothing in the magazine that the muni couldn't put on the community website for a heap less money.
Or the municipality could contract with The Almanac for quaterly inserts in the weekly paper that could have muni calenders, event schedules, etc., which would be a fraction of the cost of running a full fledged community magazine.
12:49, 12:55, and 1:09, those are all very good ideas and should be looked at and fleshed out to see if those are feasible. Cutting programs like this is never an easy choice, but money-saving ideas should be entertained to see if the Muni can ease costs.
ALL legal costs, including the inevitable settlement, MUST be journaled back and paid for out of the magazine's budget.
I don't think that this man will win, he is just fishing for money. There was no implication that he was arrested.
Damion that isjust the point. Why is the magazine sacrosanct, but garbage collection and stormwater control isn't.
Why must we keep spending for a medium that delivers community information and interest stories just like it was in 1970s.
Prediction:
Lebo will give him $20k plus his legal costs to go away. Lebo will incur $5k+ in legal costs. No municipal employee/contractor will be punished.
In the second update of this thread, I added a link to the September 2012 issue of mtl Magazine.
Elaine
Hopefully Pepsi will sue them as well.
With it sitting out in the open, it is obvious that they found it to be alcoholic.
Morgans pulls down $100k+ in salary and benefits. How can this be justified when less than 35,000 people live in Mt. Lebanon? Put the job on Monster. I'll bet somebody would do it and do it better for half that amount.
I wonder if the plaintiff is a subscriber. For sure, he should be reimbursed for his subscription. http://lebomag.com/subscribe/
If we opt out, can we get a $35 credit on our taxes?
Elaine
Does anyone know Merle Jantz? What is Merle Jantz like? Does he talk about other people, municipal employees, etc? Has anyone ever read Merle Jantz's municipal emails or worked with him?
Not sure what you're driving at 9:03?
Are they in the employ of the magazine or not, what difference do their emails make?
Couple of thoughts. In my driving 'career' I've had the experience of going thru 2 DUI checkpoints, neither in Lebo. In both I was never asked to step out of the car. They looked a my eyes, sniffed a bit, looked for cans and bottles and sent me on my sober way.
I did see them make people get out for closer examinations. So is this what Lebo police do to every driver or perhaps make random tougher checks and the plantiff just happened to be one.
Aniother question is how did the magazine get the drivers name? Did he offer it or did the magazine get it through other sources?
Whatever, it is shoddy reporting at best that it wasn't mentioned whether the plantiff passed the test.
If I was on a jury for this case, I'd award some damages, maybe not $35,000 worth but I think there's a case.
9:32 AM, the driver's name was not mentioned in the article.The opening paragraph is about the guy in the tropical shirt getting out of his Volvo and going through roadside gymnastics. The last sentence in that paragraph indicates that his night was about to get worse.
I think guy in the tropical shirt should be going after the senior editor. She is the one who emails the PG and is highly critical of them. She should be focusing on her own people. This article was written more than a year ago. Do a search on this blog and you will see that she shouldn't be throwing stones.
Elaine
Did anyone read the MJ article about "sharing the road" recently?
Did anyone read the survey Lebo Mag put out about hazards to drivers in Mt Lebanon?
Both struck me as hostile.
The survey has been up for about a month or so. Last I checked, there were 68 votes.
I got a kick out of the automated tweets. A nonautomated tweet came through an hour ago saying, "We know these automated tweets are maddening! We hope the tech team from the web page will get to it first thing Monday morning! Hang in!" About six tweets an hour since I don't know when. I went back nine hours ago and quit.
Elaine
I quickly looked through the budget this morning and found how much the Muni pays for the magazine: $857,000, if I'm reading the budget correctly. So to be self-sustaining the magazine needs to bring in that much or more. For some reason, I can't believe it bringing in that much.
Damion, did your research uncover where the advertisers money goes for their ads? Does it go into a municipal account out of which that $857,000 comes or does it go directly into the magazine's account and is used on top of the municipality's $857,000?
To be honest I don't know.
On top of that, I'm betting that magazine staffers healthcare, pension contributions and employers SS, unemployment contributions, insurance, utilities, office space and phone, office systems are booked as magazine expenditures.
12:09PM, Those are amazing questions and I have no answer for them. I just did a very, very quick scroll through the budget to see. I'll have to really dig deep into it to find where the "revenue" goes. I HOPE it goes directly to the PIO budget but I have no clue. One would think that the magazine should have it's own line item breakdown in the budget. Can the commissioners request that in future budgets?
Correction - "are NOT booked as magazine expenditures or operating costs."
That is a bet I hope I lose.
Lets just take office space.
Does the magazine pay rent to the municipality?
Or is this operational expenditure, which any magazine or paper have to account for, just get swept under the rug?
What is the going rate for prime Washington Road office space? I think its about $12-18/sq ft.
That is an expenditure for someone, the magazine or the municipality(taxpayer).
These are the types of questions that need to be fleshed out and put numbers to them, but where would we even start to get these numbers? I can read a budget, but Mt. Lebanon's isn't the best put together I've ever seen. I just don't understand why can't they be transparent and have the magazine as its own line item?
There is an allocation of staff time and expense to the magazine, already identified in the budget. Although it is likely a good assumption that all related costs are not fully allocated. The municipality's expense allocation is like recreation, it is all about the pool. Not the swimming pool, the overhead pool. If it does not fit in a department's budget, we just toss it into the deep end. As things stand today the magazine operates marginally in the black and with full allocation would likely operate marginally in the red. It is a marginal target to reduce taxes.
It is one of many marginal targets that could reap a lot of savings.
So Just Sayin, are you saying because it would be a marginal reduction In taxes, we throw up our and say, ah what the hell its not not worth bothering with?
If its operating in the red, first we need to decide if its really wanted or a necessity, then having made that decision, look for changes to stop the bleeding.
I bet once again, if you put a number to the magazine red ink, and charged residents and appropriate Pay As You Read subscription fee, we'd find out fairly fast, how essential the magazine really is.
Here is how I see it, for what it's worth. If the advertising money is funding the magazine,which is costing under $900,000, and it can operate marginally in the black, why not eliminate the magazine and let the advertisers spend their money on, let's say, signage? Let the hospital and home remodelers spend their ad money on programs instead of payroll, pensions, postage and paper. Wow! A lot of P words there!
Elaine
This is what I was thinking, Elaine.
First we establish just exactly how much the magazine cost. Payroll, benefits, printing, postage, office space, desk, software, IT, mileage, equipment lease, etc.
Once that is established figure out how much the municipality pays for it and how much is covered by ad revenue.
Then you take a look at what municipality info is absolutely essential to be printed and distributed.
Community calendar, phone numbers, annual report, garbage pick up schedules (will the hauler pay for and distribute this info under PAYt?, it won't be the municipalities issue), leaf schedules.
Then the municipality shops it around. Say its decided the muni need 10 to 16 pages, 4 times a year.
They check with INMTL Magazine the cost of a contract for creation and delivery ofthose 4 quarterly inserts.
It very well may turn out to be more expensive than the official magazine, but we won't know that for sure if we don't look at it.
The other obvious option if the magazine is making money, something not many print magazines are doing, sell it and contract with the new owner for ad pages for municipal news.
That 33,000 readers rate card is worth something.
Then use the money to create that lavish new outdoor pool or turf a field.
Just have to figure what the community wants more. Pool, turf or magazine?
If a local organization wants a promotional article in MTL they pay for the article as if it is advertising.
The magazine. I know this:
1. The PIO never answers emails. She should for 100K.
2. Contractors worth a rap don't continuously advertise in the magazine. I personally know, once a good contractor establishes their rep, word of mouth is best.
3. There isn't much local news coverage unless its about some stupid gala. The articles are fairly mindless and the scope of the information is very narrow. Not much is very relatable to the 34,962 of the "35,000" readership.
4. If they don't like you or your organization they leave you out of their listing of community organizations.
5. Why a magazine? Why the glossy paper?
6. The magazine may be a break-even deal fiscally, but what good is it really doing for the majority of Mt. Lebanon as it stands as a "source" of information? Given that question, how much are the reapers getting privately from this "break-even" endeavor? Someone's makin a killing.
7. Why the hell is an editor or whatever Morgens is invented into a Public Information officer? She doesn't provide me with any relevant info. PIO must be a made up job. Does anyone know a PIO's job description?
8. Why not combine with other municipalities to make a magazine? We share animal control with 7 other townships. I bet their budget isn't 900,000.
http://pittsblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/back-from-mt-lebanon.html
Elaine -- You are not shy that you hate Susan Morgans, hate Laura Lilley and hate the mtl magazine, so it's so very predicable that you would be salivating over this.
FYI -- no one should be punished. the magazine did nothing wrong. the lawsuit is frivolous and will probably be dismissed, so settle down.
Although this blog does not want to hear it (so much so that I will be surprised if this comment even gets published) most Mt. Lebanon residents love the magazine and the public information office.
To 11:36am.....
Susan, is that you?
11:36 if you understand so much about most Mt. Lebanon residents loving the magazine and the public information officer, please answer 12:31's questions. Answers, anyone?
"11:36 AM," hate is a very strong word. But thanks to your comment back on March 12, 2013 -
"Elaine, you have a serious myopic and bizarre fixation with the magazine that no one else shares. You're scarily obsessed with it and Susan Morgans, who does an excellent job running an excellent community resource. I hope you seek help for learning to get over your obsession with Ms. Morgans and the magazine. The whole thing leaves me scared as It's a bit single white female (remember that old movie? ) of you.
March 12, 2013 at 9:19 PM"
I took your advice and sought help and learned how to get over my obsession with Ms. Morgans and the magazine. Thanks for your advice. It made me a better person.
Elaine
11:36am, you stated a conclusion of law. Shouldn't the judge or arbitration panel be the entity that provides a legal conclusion?
11:36, Mr Franklin and Mr. Cannon seem to believe "Signing your name would lend credibility and legitimacy to your questions. If you prefer to remain anonymous while lobbing criticism, it's difficult to take you seriously."
I'm anonymous too, so don't take this post seriously and I won't your's as well.
Don't get it. This man is unidentifiable in the image. It looks like any number of middle aged men I've met around the city. His car is not even identifiable...
Until he revealed himself in the lawsuit, no one would have known that was he in the photo. Does that mean he defamed himself?
While it's not a particularly well-written article, I don't see the need for torches and dogs.
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