Headline Surfer® video / Dave Byron, shown here at left in the Frank T. Bruno County Council chambers in DeLand, the six-figure salaried-PR flak, is the guardian of media advertising, which allows politicians to exert their will on print media. He also is the protector of the public record, having kept a letter from attorney on Waverly close to the vest prior to Thursday's meeting. Headline Surfer® Publisher Henry Frederick addresses the County Council asking that Waverly public documents be posted on the county's website.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Dave Byron, the mouthpiece of Volusia County, is typical of the arrogance of government that has lost touch on holding the line on spending, and who like so many others, forgets that he works for us -- not the other way around. With a base salary of $123,165, Byron enjoys a comfortable position of 20-plus years as County Manager Jim Dinneen's hatchet man.
He's let me know on more than one occasion what he thinks of our new media platform and that all advertising goes through him.
So how dare I challenge him you might ask? Why bite the hand that feeds? There's no revenue coming our way. There hasn't been for the 5 1/2 years of our existence in covering the county, even though we've run more of his "press releases" than all other media outlets combined in that time frame. If there is any hope of fairness and transparency and funding to help our operation, it will come from holding Byron and others like him accountable to you, the public.
Here is what happened to cause me to put him in the spotlight here: On Thursday morning, I saw where the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the watered-down print paper and tool of county PR, had an advance story on attorney Jon Kaney's scheduled appearance that afternoon the County Council with a story wrapped around a "letter" Kaney had written to county officials.
I wasn't aware of the letter's existence and neither was County Chair Jason Davis, even though Byron is responsible for the flow of public information. I asked Byron in an email how it was that the Daytona newspaper had the letter and we didn't.
This was his curt response: "You didn't ask for it and they did."
Well, that didn't sit too well with me, since Kaney, the general counsel to the News-Journal and husband of then-Publisher Georgia Kaney, under the previous ownership until three years ago, likes to use the newspaper to set his agenda like he did with the lawsuit in the Bert Fish-Adventist hospital merger suit, his representation of longtime friend and then-State Attorney John Tanner in the who was being investigated by Special prosecutor Harry Shorstein.
And even Kaney's behind-the-scenes maneuverings in the American Music Festival fiasco as well as the biggest disaster of them all, the $27 million News-Journal Center that led to the crippling of the newspaper and the change in ownership from the Davidson family to Halifax Media through a federal court-supervised fire sale.
And even Kaney's behind-the-scenes maneuverings in the American Music Festival fiasco as well as the biggest disaster of them all, the $27 million News-Journal Center that led to the crippling of the newspaper and the change in ownership from the Davidson family to Halifax Media through a federal court-supervised fire sale
So, naturally, I was suspicious as to how it was the News-Journal had the letter. It was obvious to me that Kaney was feeding the News-Journal and setting the stage for news coverage favorable to him since he was walking into the Frank T. Bruno Council chambers and asking for a blank check for an undefined investigation.
And unlike previous write-ups in the News-Journal, this time Kaney was not only seeking subpoena power in this so-called Waverly investigation, but requesting his longtime lawyer friend, Noah McKinnon, join him on the taxpayers' dime.
I could have care less that the News-Journal had the "exclusive" as most of the reporting is promotional drivel any way. But it was important for me to see if Kaney was going to use the newspaper as his marketing tool. He didn't disappoint. But here was Byron, deflecting and providing cover.
After his snotty response that the newspaper had asked for the Kaney letter and we didn't, I responded in a follow-up: "Understood. They just happen to ask for a letter the same day it is dated and I'm magically supposed to know such a thing exists."
Byron's response? "All you have to do is ask for documents. I can not be expected to guess what documents you desire. All media are treated fairly; there are no games. I have no axe to grind with you or anyone else."
So let's get this straight. Kaney's going to go before the council and ask for unprecedented powers and taxpayer money, and he's not smart enough to understand the importance of the letter to the public?
Sorry Mr. Arrogant, but I'm not buying it. And neither was the county chair who was rather perturbed it wasn't added to the agenda packet online as a supplemental packet.
So I took the necessary step of going before the County Council during public participation at the end of the day and ask that "any and all" public documents related to Waverly be posted on the county's website under the heading "Waverly Investigation" as soon as they come into existence.
As I explained to the council, this takes the politics out of it and any hint of favoritism.
The following morning, I received an unsolicited email from Byron stating: "The NJ had talked previously with Kaney. They said in a prior story Kaney would have an outline by Wednesday prior to the meeting. The NJ covers the county very closely. I can not be expected to compensate for the NJ's diligence and the fact they have a newsroom full of reporters. I can assure you once again the NJ does not get preferential treatment, nor does any other news agency. Ask and you will get any record you desire but it's not my job to spoon feed the news media. The county's longstanding practice is to let all news agencies compete. That's the fairest thing to do in the long run."
Of course, Byron left out one little detail: The News-Journal receives upwards of a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in advertising, funding that doesn't even go through the elected officials for oversight and approval.
And the county manager is routinely quoted in the newspaper in self-serving stories while other media outlets, including this one, get the cold shoulder because Dinneen, the bureaucratic tactician, wants to avoid answering the tough questions that go beyond the PR spin.
The News-Journal has a roomful of reporters, Dandy Dave? Really? Let's see, in the past half dozen years, the payroll of the former metro was cut in half from its once-800 strong.
In September, the paper lost award-winning reporter Ray Weiss (who I had worked with, both at the News-Journal and at Gannett Suburban Newspapers in New York) and Deborah Circelli, who I teamed up with back in the early 2000s for a multi award-winning investigative series called "Silent Cries" on Volusia County child homicides. Reiss packed it in in September and Circelli, earlier this month.
This followed last month's jettisoning of veteran New Smyrna-area reporter Mark I. Johnson, a photographer ands several copy editors, in a continuing shedding of payroll (more than a dozen this year), some positions replaced with chamber-friendly reporters working for less money.
Then Byron really got me fired up with this follow-up email Friday, an obvious "cover your ass" response regurgitating points he already made, and likely with language put in from the county attorney's office to sound credible, even though it's just more B.S: "Henry. This is the last time I am going to respond to your griping about the NJ reporting of the county. I will stress again -- for the final time -- the NJ does not get preferential treatment from me or my staff. The same goes for any other news agency. The county's longstanding practice is to allow news agencies to compete story for story. I do not, and will not, communicate to reporters what story each other is working on. That's the ONLY way the county can avoid being accused of playing favorites, although you seem to be the only exception. The reality is the news business is a highly competitive, for profit environment."
Byron went on to say: The NJ has an inherent advantage because they have a newsroom full of reporters, a fact of which you are fully aware. I, or my staff, can not be expected to compensate for the fact the NJ covers the county very intensely... There is no mystery as to why the NJ knew to ask for the Kaney communication to the county council, which the newspaper did so on Tuesday. How did they know to ask for it? The answer is simple. They talked to Kaney last week and he said he would have an outline to the county council by Wednesday of this week. My recollection is they printed that fact in their story last week. I repeat -- you ask for a document and you will receive it. I am not about to try to read your mind or anticipate what documents you desire. As stated in the past, the county public information division is not a news bureau, it's a public information office."
Byron, or whoever helped him write this, continued: "There's a big difference between the functions of the two. When the county issues a news release it goes to all news media. Otherwise, documents/information are provided as requested. In closing, in spite of the many disparaging remarks you have made about the county's public information staff and me personally, you will be treated fairly and in a manner that's consistent with the way other agencies are treated. This is all I intend to say on this matter."
Well, that's all it took for a strongly-worded response from me, which I made sure to copy to Dinneen, County Attorney Dan Eckert, County Chair Jason Davis and Council members Deb Denys, Joshua Wagner, Joyce Cusack, Pat Patterson, Doug Daniels and Pat Northey.
Suffice to say, I gave Byron a piece of my mind. Nobody dared to respond back. County Chair Davis did call me to say he read the response and agreed the documentation should be posted on the county's website. After all, everyone of these players knows the games being played here: