Long arm of the law applies a chokehold

By: Arthur Z. Kamin Sheriff pulls legal Ads From Asbury Park Press; paper won't be pushed around

It's not the old Wild West; it's suburban Monmouth County, N.J., about 50 miles south of New York. But you'd never know it, pardner.
A serious, tough-talking standoff is going on there between a county sheriff and the state's second-largest daily and Sunday paid-circulation newspaper.
The sheriff's weapon is not a Colt six-shooter, but rather an economic-boycott pistol that could cost the Asbury Park Press of Neptune more than 350,000 dollars in legal advertising revenue this year.
The Press is adamant that it will not make any deals with the sheriff and says it's continuing its news coverage of his office as if nothing ever happened. The newspaper stands to lose in 1999 almost 400,000 Monmouth County sheriff public-notice foreclosure-sale ad lines.
Sheriff Joseph W. Oxley said he decided earlier this year that he wanted "more exposure" for the legal foreclosure notices, yanked them from the Press, and placed them in The Star-Ledger of Newark, the state's largest circulation newspaper.
The legality of not advertising in the Press, the county's only daily newspaper, has been questioned by John J. O'Brien, executive director of the New Jersey Press Association, and Arlene M. Turinchak, an NJPA attorney.
Oxley said his decision ? which was checked with the county counsel ? had nothing to do with the fact the Press did not editorially endorse him in the election last November and has carried articles raising major concerns about how he operates his office and the county jail that he oversees.
"We just wanted a larger market," said the sheriff, a Republican who was at one time the mayor of Middletown, the county's largest municipality.
W. Raymond Ollwerther, executive editor and vice president of news, takes a different view. He says ? as do others at the Press ? that the newspaper is being "punished" for not backing Oxley in his re-election bid, along with those of two incumbent Republican freeholders. Ollwerther, a Princeton and Northwestern University School of Journalism graduate, began his career at the Press in 1972 as a municipal beat reporter.
He said one-party government, at the county level, had existed for many years, "and they are not used to being challenged. It's rather uncomfortable for them." Ollwerther emphasized that Robert T. Collins, publisher of the Gannett Co. Inc.- owned Press, stands behind the staff, telling them to in no way change the editorial coverage of the county as a result of this situation, said Ollwerther.
On Page One of its Oct. 8 issue, the Press carried a story about the sheriff allegedly violating his own office's drug-testing policy. At issue was whether Oxley submitted to a urine test on a certain day.
The Press also was hit in the pocketbook earlier his year when the county parks and recreation system ? after 15 years ? changed its method of distributing an events and activities directory. The newspaper had been critical of parks system policies. The Press has drawn a daily circulation of 150,000 and a Sunday circulation of 230,000. The Star-Ledger circulation is 450,000 daily and 710,000 Sunday; its Monmouth County daily total is 14,720. The line rate for legals, based on circulation, is 82 cents in the Press and a dollar-fifty in The Star-Ledger.
James K. Easley, the Press' classified advertising manager, said he was stunned when he learned the newspaper would be losing the sheriff's notices. He said he met with Oxley and attempted to put together a package that would include the Press and several other Gannett newspaper in New Jersey for a dollar thirty-four a line. "But he would not go along with it," said Easley, who has been with the newspaper for 30 years and could not recall a similar situation ever taking place.
A Star-Ledger spokesman said that, "to be quite honest," he was surprised when the Monmouth County call came through seeking rate and other information. "We did not approach them or give them any advice," he said. "They told us our deadlines were more flexible than the Press' and that they wanted a larger audience."
A check with the sheriff's office in adjoining Middlesex County showed it used The Star-Ledger for foreclosure notices. In accordance with state statute, however, it also used the daily newspaper that is published in the county: the Home News Tribune, another Gannett publication. (It does not advertise in weekly newspapers. The Monmouth County sheriff's office does. Two newspapers must be used.)
The Press has run several stories and editorials about the operation of the county parks and recreation system. They focused on the shortage of urban parks, subsidized supervisor housing, and the construction of a reported 25-million-dollar golf course, said to be one of the most expensive public layouts in the country. The stories were written by Jason Method, a former county reporter who is now in the Gannett New Jersey Bureau in Trenton, and also is part of an investigative journalism team. The parks stories won him an NJPA government-reporting award.
The parks system declared it would no longer have the Press print and distribute its events directory. It was published six times a year as a TV-book-type insert, went to about 100,000 homes, and brought in about 123,000 dollars a year in revenue to the Press.
Citing a desire to use direct mail and purported "technical" and "quality" problems at the Press, a parks system spokeswoman said the publication is now produced by three separate contractors at a yearly cost of 75,000 dollars.
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(copyright: Editor & Publisher December 4, 1999) [Caption]