In Rocky op-ed, Face the State's Jones defended his journalistic practices while omitting his widespread use of misinformation and his GOP ties

Summary: In a February 6 Rocky Mountain News guest op-ed defending his "news" website, managing editor Brad Jones of Face the State wrote that "we are proud of our track record of reporting accurate and timely information." Jones was responding to News editor John Temple's column noting the website's role in reporting allegations of sexual impropriety against a state legislator. But Colorado Media Matters has documented numerous instances in which Jones, through his website or other media outlets, has dispensed misinformation that advanced a conservative agenda.

Responding to Rocky Mountain News editor, president, and publisher John Temple's February 2 column noting the role of the "news" website FacetheState.com in reporting allegations of sexual impropriety against a state lawmaker, Face the State founder and managing editor Brad Jones stated in a February 6 News guest column that "we are proud of our track record of reporting accurate and timely information." However, as Colorado Media Matters has documented, Face the State repeatedly has misinformed readers with distorted content that advances a conservative agenda or attacks what the site refers to as "liberal" causes. Jones also has spread conservative misinformation as a guest on Newsradio 850 KOA, 1310 KFKA, and KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking.

A column by media critic Michael Roberts in the February 7 issue of the weekly Westword about Temple's column similarly quoted Jones about his purported journalistic ethics, without noting his history on Face the State and in comments via other media outlets of distorting facts and using misinformation to attack Democrats, "liberals," and others.

In a column headlined "A cautionary tale for the Web era," Temple explained his decision not to publish an article such as that published January 31 by Face the State, which reported, based on an anonymous source, that former Colorado House Assistant Majority Leader Michael Garcia (D-Aurora) was "facing accusations that he exposed himself to a female lobbyist while making lewd comments after a political fundraiser." Temple noted that The Denver Post similarly reported the allegation on its website January 31, and stated that he decided to uphold the News' policy against using "anonymous sources for opinion or accusatory material."

The News on February 6 published Jones' responding op-ed in which he asserted that Temple "implied" that Face the State had "rushed to publish ... without appropriate safeguards," adding, "Nothing could be further from the truth."

From Brad Jones' guest column "Web reporting abides by journalism's standards," published under the heading "A Differing View" on February 6 in the Rocky Mountain News:

As managing editor of Face The State, I'm responding to John Temple's Feb. 2 column, "A cautionary tale for the Web era." That column implied that our news and opinion Web site, FaceTheState.com, rushed to publish a story about a lawmaker without appropriate safeguards. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Like the Rocky's reporter, Face The State learned about the allegations more than a week before we ran the story. Originally, the woman making the accusations did not wish to publicize them. We investigated, found the allegations credible, but deferred to the woman's desire to avoid press attention. We ran our report only after obtaining permission from our source. The report was factually identical to other print and television accounts.

[...]

The Internet no doubt contains its share of inaccuracies and untruths, on blogs and elsewhere. But as a news organization publishing on both the Web and radio, we are proud of our track record of reporting accurate and timely information.

Jones made similar comments in Roberts' Westword column, which reported:

For his part, Brad Jones, the managing editor of Face the State, takes umbrage at other implications in Temple's column, including the depiction of his site as a blog. [emphasis in original] "We're an online news source, not a blog," he says. "We separate our reporting from our opinion, we have a paid staff, and we take a proactive investigative stance." Likewise, Jones resents the insinuation that he'd sacrifice accuracy and journalistic credibility if given the chance to spatter political opponents. "There are blogs out there in Colorado that publish rumor as fact, and that's not what we do," he stresses. [emphasis added]

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, on numerous occasions Face the State has used misleading headlines to misrepresent the content of articles and editorials to which it has linked and incorporated false or misleading information into its own material. Examples of such misrepresentations include:

• Face the State website changed its design, retained misleading substance
• Face the State provided misleading headline about article on Denver weather
• Face the State headline distorted news article's quote to add a bogus attack on "liberal[s]"
• Misleading Face the State headline suggested Post article reported on movement to restrict "legal sale of firearms"
• Face the State headline claimed "[m]ountain hippies" were protesting molybdenum mining; linked article did not
• Face the State misrepresented carbon-tax ballot initiative as a "Democrat proposal"
• Face the State ignored panel's GOP members in falsely stating "Dems" want transportation tax increase
• Face the State falsely called task force funding option a Ritter proposal for "$2 billion a year for transportation"
• Face the State falsely asserted column critical of campaign for Denver bond package was "yank[ed]" from progressive website
• Face the State headline misleadingly asserted that "Ritter Committee Wants Tax Hike on Gas"

Colorado Media Matters has further noted that during the October 16, 2007, broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show, Jones asserted that the Better Denver campaign -- which supported Denver's successful November 2007 ballot measures 1A through 1I -- did not tell voters that the "$27 million more to the city" that would result from the passage of 1A is "an annual rate." In fact, Better Denver's website stated that "1A will increase Denver's mill levy by 2.5 mills to raise $27 million each year."

As a guest on the January 25 broadcast of 1310 KFKA's The Amy Oliver Show, Jones repeated a distortion about Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order "Authorizing Partnership Agreements with State Employees" by claiming that in issuing the order on a Friday afternoon, Ritter sought to "dupe" the public "by jumping into the end of a news cycle." In fact, Ritter reportedly notified the Post and the News of the executive order before he issued it and gave an interview to the News on the day the order was announced. Additionally, Ritter answered questions about the order in a Denver Business Journal email interview published on November 9, 2007.

Colorado Media Matters also has documented Jones' connections to conservative organizations and Republican political campaigns, including his work as a research associate at the Independence Institute under the direction of Jessica Peck Corry, who heads the "free-market" think tank's Campus Accountability Project. Corry was a Republican candidate in the 2004 state Senate District 19 election, and her website states that it is "hosted by Brad Jones LLC." Further, as Colorado Media Matters also noted, records from the Colorado Secretary of State show that in 2005 and 2006, Jones (as Brad Jones and Brad Jones, LLC) received at least $10,000 while working as a contractor for Republican candidates, including state Sen. Shawn Mitchell (Broomfield), now-Secretary of State Mike Coffman, Colorado State Board of Education member and 2008 U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, and 2006 gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.

Furthermore, while joining Newsradio 850 KOA and Independent Thinking host Jon Caldara - president of the Independence Institute -- in attacking Colorado's "leftist establishment" for allegedly hiding its funding sources, Jones has twice refused to identify the funders of his own website, as Colorado Media Matters has noted (here and here). As a guest on the August 24, 2007, broadcast of Independent Thinking, Jones also made the unsubstantiated claim that Face the State had "had more media hits" in its six months of operation than the progressive online political daily news website Colorado Confidential had in its one year of operation. In fact, a search of major Colorado newspapers and journals using the Nexis and Factiva databases showed that Face the State had 14 "media hits" during the preceding six months of operation while Colorado Confidential had 21 in the preceding year.

Jones also at one time was listed as the "host[]" of ColoradoSenateNews.com, a website run by the state Senate Minority Office. As Colorado Confidential reported on April 24, 2007, Colorado Secretary of State campaign finance reports confirmed that a GOP campaign account known as the "Senate Majority Fund paid $2,500 to Brad Jones LLC on January 12, and another $281 on February 14. Both expenditures were designated for 'consulting' and, as [Colorado Senate Minority Leader Andy] McElhany [R-Colorado Springs] has indicated, were used to create ColoradoSenateNews.com." The News reported on April 11, 2007 (accessed through the Nexis database) that McElhany had removed " 'Hosted by Brad Jones LLC' from the bottom of coloradosenatenews.com, because 'He's doing some blatantly partisan things.' "

—E.B.