When Orem Mayor Dave Young went to the dais during his city council meeting on Sept. 19, he had a target in mind. The mayor stood and spent 20 minutes excoriating the Daily Herald for its reporting and, repeatedly by name, the journalist who wrote those stories. It wasn’t the first time the mayor had targeted the Herald’s reporting.
After all, the paper has covered the mayor’s legal situation in Alabama, namely the $1 million fraud judgment against him and his son, and extensively reported on the mayor’s unsuccessful efforts (along with other elected officials) to form a city school district in Orem and the ensuing local controversies. Mayor Young and others rebuked the Herald — without citing evidence — when stories ran contrary to his personal goals for the city.
What happened next was sent around online and aired through local TV stations — it’s been discussed ad nauseam. But I’m not here to talk about a reporter’s daughter taking umbrage with a public official calling out her mother. I’m here because, in the weeks since the incident, the Daily Herald has not made a single comment. They have not defended their reporter, nor their reporting.
The only thing remotely close to a public comment is the 277-word word story from a non-staff reporter about the arrest. One paragraph in the middle mentions Mayor Young’s actions inciting the confrontation. This saddens me to see as a reader and former editor of the paper. When public officials target the work of news organizations and individual reporters, it’s key for the organizations and their leaders to defend their staff.
When U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens declined to debate his challengers in 2022, he cited the selection of Tribune Executive Editor Lauren Gustus as moderator. In an Oct. 25, 2022, piece by the Tribune Editorial Board, the paper defended Gustus and cartoonist Pat Bagley against accusations of racism made by Rep. Owens. In no uncertain terms, this is what I would hope the Daily Herald would do.
It’s been several years since the paper published a proper editorial by the board, but this is a special circumstance. A reporter’s reputation was publicly attacked. The paper’s reporting was publicly attacked. A mayor is targeting residents — by name — from the dais during city council meetings.
As an elected official spits in the face of the first amendment, the paper is standing quiet. There’s still an opinion page, they’ve published plenty of national and guest columnists, but they’re silent on this issue.
Why? Well, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. When confronted with criticism by power, Ogden Newspapers has taken to accepting the lashings, not standing up for reporting.
In 2022, The Aspen Times was actively covering a major land purchase by a Soviet-born billionaire when they called him an “oligarch.” The billionaire threatened, and eventually filed, a defamation suit against the paper. According to a story in The Atlantic by now-former editor Andrew Travers, Ogden’s decision was to have the paper stop covering the billionaire entirely for eight weeks.
This decision, and Ogden’s series of choices and memos in Aspen, are representative of a bigger issue. If a journalist can’t trust their outlet to protect them, will reporters speak truth to power? Without that backup, it’s just an underpaid local reporter staring down the barrel of government officials, business tycoons and anyone with deep pockets and the ability to hold a grudge. This is a much smaller fight in scale.
I’m not comparing the actions of Russian billionaires in Colorado to Mayor Young, but they’re both ending at the same point — targeting an Ogden Newspapers product and, up to this point, winning. There’s still time in Colorado. Travers is suing the Ogden Newspapers, alleging they “lied when leadership promised him editorial freedom to publish news and opinion stories on a controversial property at the base of Aspen Mountain and the billionaire real estate tycoon who purchased it,” according to an Oct. 4, Denver Post article.
All of this is to say, every day the Daily Herald doesn’t defend their reporter, freedom of the press, Utah County and Orem are hurt. The people of Utah County deserve a local newspaper that tells them the truth and won’t capitulate to the ire of those in power. I’m disappointed but far from surprised.
I stand behind the Herald’s reporting. I know first-hand what went into the stories published before August of this year and I have full faith in the truthfulness and accuracy of the most recent story.
Harrison Epstein
Harrison Epstein was editor of the Daily Herald from Sept. 2021 through Aug. 2023 and served multiple roles with the Standard-Examiner from Dec. 2019 until beginning with the Herald. He is currently a law student at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law.