Our good buddy Jim Schutze over at the Phoenix-based Dallas Observer weighs in this week on the topic that everyone loves to be tired of. I’m mostly thrilled that they chose to run a photo of me that’s about three years old. I had more hair when it was taken. But I do wish to clear up three points:
1. I did not go to journalism school. Nor did I get a degree in journalism. As I tell our interns, J school is a waste of time. To me, it’s like going to school to learn how to lay bricks. Why not learn how to do that from a bricklayer rather than a professor?
2. I never belonged to a fraternity. That’s one of the reasons I chose to go to Notre Dame. It doesn’t have fraternities. (The other reason I chose to go there was that I got in.)
3. This is the important one. Schutze effed this up just like Tawnell Hobbs did. He knew damn well when he wrote his column that there are at least 200 more pre-K openings in DISD than there are people on the wait list. My daughter did not jump to the head of any line. Nor was she given a spot at the expense of a needy child. He either did not understand the basic math underlying this concept, or he chose not to include that information for the same reason Tawnell Hobbs did: because if you leave it out, it’s easier to vilify me. Which is an odd thing to do right before you deliver a lecture about journalistic ethics, Professor Schutze.
After Schutze called me for this column, I sent him a follow-up e-mail explaining why I thought his take on the situation was wrong. For those who care, here’s the e-mail and his response:
—
Jim:
I sometimes don’t think well on my feet and apologize for calling you a “used-up old man who smells like pencil shavings” earlier on the phone. [Editor's note: this is a joke. I didn't call Schutze that on the phone.] But in case the profanity and name-calling obscured what I was trying to get across:
In working with [DISD spokesman] Jon Dahlander in a professional capacity over the years, I’ve come to know him as more than a bureaucrat. Just as Brett Shipp knows Dahlander personally, so, too, do I. That has never interfered with how Jon has done his job or how I’ve done mine.
But, because I know him, I included personal details in an email to him. I told him how I felt when we were misinformed that there were no open spots in pre-K at Hexter. I said I was pissed. I said we were afraid we’d have to bail on Hexter. Jon knows me well enough to know, without a doubt, that those weren’t threats. The purpose of that note was to glean information. I asked three questions: “Do you have access to Hexter pre-K data? How many needy kiddos took spots? Might no-shows at the start of the school year yield late openings?”
I asked Jon those questions because, as you can see from the OPR report’s executive summary, the district had no procedure in place to handle parents like us who wished to pay tuition for open pre-K spots. With no procedure to follow, neither [DISD pre-K honcho] Beth Steerman nor [Hexter principal] Jolee Healey could answer our questions. And, of course, I asked Jon those questions because I know him and happen to have his e-mail address.
I knew Jon wasn’t going to break any rules for me. Jon knew that I knew that. And, further, I knew that he knew that I knew that.
I look forward to reading your fair and balanced story.
Best waffles,
Tim Rogers
Editor
D Magazine
—
JIM SCHUTZE’S RESPONSE:
I must refer you to our Fair and Balanced Department. The chief over there is Mr. Wilonsky.
45 comments
Good Lord, what a condescending hatchet job. Worse still, he ignored the critical fact of the matter, that Tim’s kid didn’t take a spot from anyone.
My respect for Mr. Schutze just ratcheted down a few notches.
You mean writers and editors sometimes leave out facts that get in the way of a story?
you’re battling perception vs. reality, dude
good luck with that
I’m sure this was covered ad nauseum in the comments to prior posts, or elsewhere, but the number of kids on the waiting list and the number of open slots is irrelevant to the discussion. Because some of the kids on the waiting list are waiting to be accepted into a different school, presumably with no desire to be admitted into the school Tim’s kid now attends, those kids don’t make a difference to this situation. Nor do the open slots at other schools that Tim had no interest in sending his kid to.
The only thing that would matter is if a needy kid was on the waiting list to attend Hexter, Tim’s kid was accepted in front of the needy kid, and that needy kid continues to wait. If that didn’t happen, who really cares?
@smithdew: Exactly. Thank you. And that didn’t happen. There is no one waiting to get into Hexter.
Not to nitpick, but facebook predates collegiate Tim by at least 15 years.
Only someone who hasn’t been to journalism school would list “the important one” of his three points last.
It’s the uninverted pyramid, kids!
AWESOME use of the “Darling” Phillips emphasis strategy (”I know they know I know they know…”. Brilliant.
I’m a bit surprised to hear that you never studied journalism, although that clearly explains a lot!
Keep living the dream!
Damn, I really expected better of Schutze and the Dallas Observer. I always count on them to do the kind of honest reporting the Dallas Morning News should try once in awhile.
Tim.. you are letting the facts get in the way of a good story.. for goodness sakes.
So… according to Jim, you can’t be friends with anyone because you might write about them?
Tim, are you regretting making “the call”?
Not as a father, of course, but as a journalist?
Schutze just makes me sad.
Tim is the editor of a magazine whose readership consists primarily of folks who would never consider letting their child attend any school within DISD. How about a little kudos for Tim supporting our public school system?
I mean, the real reason he wants his kids in the Hexter program is because all of the admins he attempted to blackmail at St. Marks, ESD and Jesuit dismissed his threats and turned him away.
Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin’ there in your ghost manger, just lookin’ at your Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin’ ’bout shapes and colors. I would like to thank you for makin’ Plano ISD so I wouldn’t have to put up with this crap. And for my smokin’ hot wife.
Dear California-born Tim,
Although most readers understand that you didn’t take anyone’s spot, readers also perceive that you have leveraged your public position, your profession and connections to gain entrance to a program not designed for your child. That, sir, is the issue, even if it was unintentional.
You’re going to have to separate that issue from the fact that you are doing something good for your child; something I would do for my child. But you are not John Doe. You are a journalist and a public figure, and the rules of engagement are different for you.
Tim, you are being your own worst enemy with this news cycle. Your posts are not helping, ‘ya stubborn bastard.
JimS’s article is hardly a hatchet job. Schadenfreude? (or Shutzefreude?) Yes, definitely, but what comes around goes around.
Oh, and hey, let’s be careful out there.
The primary narrative I gleaned from Schutze’s piece is that people throughout Dallas hate him, Jim Schutze, and also hate Tim Rogers, but Tim Rogers doesn’t know this and Jim Schutze does, therefore making him a kind of honorary grandfather of sorts.
As secondary thread, I learned that callow Tim Rogers has failed to realize that being punched in the face makes men mad, even if they did do those things to those puppies — which Tim Rogers didn’t; he’s just middle-class, is all, and he’ll molest puppies if it helps his kids go to pre-K somehow, but really, as a journalist, he shouldn’t even own puppies, because those puppies might hate him, is the part he just doesn’t get, and if he befriended them, the puppies, he couldn’t punch their faces, thus most justly invoking their wrath. Not ethically he couldn’t.
I’m not anticipating Schutze’s agent will secure an offer for movie rights to this one.
IMPOSTER…..STOP!
@Daniel: You are, like, the MOST quality vodka. Thank you for what you bring to this blog. You’ve made me laugh twice today.
Daniel,
Your first paragraph is the most sensible thing you’ve written in a long time. The second paragraph started off as insightful before regressing into nonsensical, unfunny gibberish.
Yes, that makes me sad.
Well at least this contretemps is somewhat invigorating.
It’s too bad Jim and Tim can’t get along as they are both DISD devotees.
Lucky for Jim that he got his son into Woodrow Wilson before the the current waiting list.
I know a guy who grew up with Jim Schutze. Oh, the stories he could tell. Perhaps we need to explore Grandpa’s old army chest for a few unflattering stories.
So now the Observer is going to gleem some web clicks off this (non?)story. I’m wondering which of the three; D, DMN, now Observer, is winning the ‘web hits war’ that have come directly from this charade.
@Daniel I heart you! You make me laugh. And that makes me happy.
B.L.,
I know people who went to college with Tim and used to work with him in this younger years. Oh, the stories they could tell. And write. Actually, I remember a great story in the Observer about an old Dallas tabloid and the exploits of its writers at a strip club. Sniffle. Sniffle.
Bid, call or fold?
Tim, if your assertion that there were no needy kids left on the waiting list for Hexter, I applaud your commitment to getting your child a quality education and your persistence in doing so. If anything, I’m left wondering if DISD would like to have an empty desk rather than filling it with a child with parents interested in his/her education?
Also, who decided to air the age and gender of your child to the public? Get your lawyer on that.
@Jess: You forgot the link.
Call.
@Buddy
Alas, once one hits “Submit Comment,” the window for editing slams shut irrevocably. I take neither this blog nor myself particularly seriously, and you might be a happier soul if you followed my lead.
@Spunky
God bless you.
This much is clear:
Tim Rogers loves it when so many people are talking about Tim Rogers. It makes Tim Rogers happy.
Tim Rogers’ ultimate goal is to become the first Tim Rogers to appear in Google searches. Right now, Tim Rogers is less popular than:
- Tim Rogers, videogame reviewer
- Tim Rogers, frontman of Australian rock band You Am I
- Tim Rogers, assistant professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
This does not sit well with Tim Rogers.
Jim Schutze’s editorial had so many annoying rhetorical questions in it I thought I was reading something by Carrie Bradshaw: “Can journalists have friends? Can they really find love in this crazy city? At the end of the day, can a journalist really have it all?” (I hope the camera did a close-up on that final rhetorical question.) Yes, I referenced Sex In The City. Leave me alone.
And yet, surprisingly, Jim is not a scary self-absorbed New York girl of a certain age.
Tim Rogers runs his blog the same as Sarah Palin runs her Facebook. ALL negative comments are deleted/censored even if they abide by the terms and conditions. While those that disregard the terms and conditions, yet serve up a hefty Tim compliment are processed.
I think in the real world we call that a chickensh*t way of out of a discussion.
So, why email Dahlender if you didn’t want him to help? I mean, if you were just wanting to vent, why didn’t you call your favorite drinking buddy, or your mom? Why the guy at DISD? And why hasn’t he commented on any of this?
@Grounded: COURAGE.
So. I’m pretty late to this party. And while the snarkiness of Schutze’s column is at about a DEFCON-5 level, I think what he’s pointing out does have some merit.
Even if Rogers’ intentions were nothing but pure, the fact is that he is an editor of a large city magazine who just didn’t think about the appearance of impropriety. While I know that the journo-source relationship is a weird/close/symbiotic one, I think the thing people are having a hard time swallowing is that Rogers and Dahlander were ‘friends.’ (I’m thinking he’s not exactly at the top of the list for the Rogers Christmas party/festivus party/occasional shindig.)
If the editor of a large magazine has questions about how to call his daughter into a local school when there’s a waiting list, and he calls a media rep, how can that NOT look suspicious? At the very least, it was a blunder of appearances that I think he should be called out on. The fact that Tim won’t acknowledge that it might look a little weird is annoying.
Perhaps more annoying is that he thinks it’s okay – or that people should believe – that journos are friends with their sources. They’re not. It’s a business relationship that, in the minds of most people, should be separate from whatever personal shiznit you’ve got going on. This doesn’t mean you can’t be civil or shoot the breeze about what’s going on, or even that you can’t genuinely care about what happens to them as a person. But asking a source (even a ‘friend’ source) for help on something that has nothing to do with anything journalism related crosses a line. (As does the ’source’ doing something about it rather than voicing his discomfort.)
And the DMN’s pointing that out is, I think, very valid. Rogers may think it’s nit-picking. But doing less than your best to retain at least a veneer of journalistic distance from sources rightly invites questioning as to how far he would go/has gone – how many similar situations DON’T we know about?
I second much of what sarah has written. My initial reaction was to consider the DISD spokesman. He gets a note from the editor of a magazine that seems, shall we say, testy. If he files it and doesn’t tell anyone, and then the editor does make trouble in print has not the spokesman possibly jeopardized himself? His boss might be curious as to why he wasn’t informed that this was brewing. On the other hand, if the spokesman passes the editor’s communication up the chain, and someone above does or says something that makes people do something, then cannot the spokesman say ‘you’re questioning the wrong guy’? Of course, if no one messages anyone then nobody gets their knickers in a bunch, do they?
@sarah:
Tim acknowledge he did something wrong? Ha!
Tim – welcome to the world of PR where the facts never matter with most “news” outlets if someone’s had a bad day and they’re after you. As you teach other brick-layers in the future, you’ll no doubt share your cautionary tale of how people (and even companies) can have their reputations called into question by a self-appointed prosecutor just to flog a news outlet’s product. It shouldn’t be that way – but it is.
No one should have to go through this and I’m sorry you and your family have had to experience it- but welcome to the club…
Tim, I didn’t say you went to journalism school. I didn’t say you were in a fraternity. As I have said to you on the phone and in print, your error was in jumping the line by calling Dahlander, something that only a media person could do. All of the absurd pseudo-math you are doing on openings and waiting lists defies common sense. The principal of your school, whom you and your wife both know well, told you that there was not a place for your child. Instead of respecting her word on the matter, you used your clout as an editor to bully your child’s way into the school. You have probaly gotten your “friend” Dahlander into serious trouble. What you need to do is apologize for exercising terrible judgement and try to reclaim what dignity you can for yourself and your family by remaining silent.
I smell pencil shavings.
Uh, it’s spelled “judgment.”
My reading of this contretemps and the debate it has inspired: JimS spelled judgment wrong, so Tim’s got dignity.
But there’s more! JimS put scare quotes around “friend,” clearly implying that something, shall we say, extra-fraternal happened between Tim Rogers and Jon Dahlander in the YMCA locker room.
Tim, for once, remains silent, except to remark on JimS’s WWII-rationing-inspired choice of cologne. Is it that Tim won’t dignify that accusation with et cetera? Or does he have secrets to hide? Is he just middle-class — is it that simple?
Stay tuned!
Tim and RAB: right, and right.
“Pencil shavings” is spelled “judgment???”
Jim Schutze wrote in his article: “Hey. Wait. I see a look on your face. You sort of think the power of all this is cool. Wow. Can’t get my kid in the school? Make one call. Talk marble-mouthed, like Marlon Brando in The Godfather. People jump.”
Well, not to defend Tim Rogers (in this case it was a bit of a ‘no win’ situation, I think), but my wife did make that call (sort of)–to our School Board representative. We had hit a rough spot in trying to get our child into the 4th grade at Travis, and our school board member (no longer on the board) gave us very good advice–and my wife can be VERY pushy when it comes to her children.
Anyone Tim Rogers or his wife called after hearing “no” from the principal would appear fishy (unfortunately for Tim). But in that situation it would not have stopped my wife (me? I’m a push-over).
(Sorry about all the parenthetical remarks.)
@Tim Rogers:
Great comeback; well reasoned. And it only took you an hour to come up with that? Impressive.