Sault Star responds to mayor's attack on Della-Mattia

The Sault Star responded defiantly this morning to last night's 1,400-word diatribe by Mayor John Rowswell against its veteran City Hall reporter Elaine Della-Mattia.

"He didn’t get the story he wanted and got upset," said Frank Rupnik, the newspaper's editor. "It appears he wants to control the media but it won't happen."

Rupnik added that over a career of working in a half-dozen Ontario newspapers, he's never seen such a personal attack launched on a journalist for doing her job. Della-Mattia, reached by the Star on vacation, lamented that Rowswell used last night's City Council meeting for a personal attack. "I would think a veteran politician would have been more professional," the reporter said.

Rowswell accused her last night of abandoning her journalistic responsibilities in her ongoing pursuit of bad news.

"If she can't find a negative story, she has to make one up," the mayor said.

At time of writing (10:10 a.m.) an unscientific SooToday.com home-page poll indicates that 44 percent of our readers consider Della-Mattia's reporting to be "too negative," while 25 percent consider her "fair and balanced."

Earlier SooToday.com coverage of this story

Mayor lambastes Elaine Della-Mattia Full text of mayor's statement on Elaine Della-Mattia