Free Press Flip-Flop Flap

Seldom does a major daily newspaper execute as many flip-flops on important stories as the Detroit Free Press did in recent weeks. The first came over an article by Remer Tyson, 40, the paper's political correspondent, and Reporter Dave Anderson, 32, five days before the November elections. Their story accused State Representative James Damman, the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, of conflicts of interest arising from his land deals while a member of the city commission and zoning board of Troy, a Detroit suburb.

The next day the Free Press, which had endorsed the Republican ticket, demanded in a blunt editorial by Editorial Page Editor Joe H. Stroud that Damman be dumped. The Republicans countered by sending their lawyers to meet with Free Press editors and the two reporters, who, says Tyson, were told by the newspaper's counsel not to engage in debate. The result, to Tyson's dismay, was a Free Press editorial reversal, again written by Stroud, 48 hours before the election, stating that the paper did not have enough facts to support the charges. Angered, the city news staff hit back with a post-election story carefully substantiating the original article on Damman, now Lieutenant Governor-elect. Two days later, Stroud and the Free Press reversed themselves again and attacked Damman for "moral insensitivity." The case is now before the state's attorney general.

The day before Stroud's third editorial, the Free Press flip-flopped in a different sense. Folksy columnist Judd Arnett revealed on the last page that Henry Ford had told him he favored a gasoline tax--big news in a town suffering the worst slump in car sales since 1958. The afternoon competition, the Detroit News, immediately saw the dynamite in the story, got a statement from Ford, and ran it on Page One, scooping the Free Press. Next day the Free Press tried lamely to recoup with predictable reactions from economists.

Result: reporters at the Free Press are openly annoyed with the editors, and the readers are confused. For a proud daily that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Detroit riots in 1967, and has recently gained in its circulation battle with the News, the whole affair seems out of character. But late last week Free Press editors had another chance. City Editor Larry Jolidan was in Executive Editor Kurt Luedtke's office arranging a meeting with some local milk companies that were angry about a Free Press story on how middlemen are profiting from rising milk prices. Reporters were watching with undisguised interest for the outcome of that session.

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