UPDATE:  Vajda's original release is here.

Eszter Vajda, the UNC-TV reporter at the center of the subpoena flap, issued the statement below this morning.  I thought it would be fair to give her equal time to tell her side of the story, so I'm posting it.

My apologies - my blog is acting up and won't allow me to upload the original document.  (We're working on that issue.)  In the meantime, I've copied and pasted the entire release below. 

Except for the layout, it is exactly as it was sent out. 

_______________________________________

Contact: Martin Sansone
Ultracom Inc.(SC)
USA Phone: 919 637 3993
Email: martin@esztervajda.com   

USA:
1251 Winding Arbor Trail
Raleigh. NC.
Phone 919 637 3993
Email: martin@esztervajda.com

UK:
87 Mays Ave, Nottingham
NG4 1AS. United Kingdom
Phone: +441614080213   

Eszter Vajda
Press Release

Eszter Vajda breaks her silence on reporting ALCOA’s smelting operations and UNC-TV subpoena.  “This is why I became a journalist – to “sweep dirt from under the rug” so to speak, to bring information to the public that they don’t have, to arm them with information that sometimes is kept from them on purpose”.

Raleigh, NC, July 16, 2010:  The attention has turned from the First Amendment on journalistic freedom of the press concerning a PBS affiliate broadcasting agency, to the content aired on UNC-TV by their Senior Legislative Correspondant’s indepth look at the aluminum reduction (smelting) side of ALCOA’s global interests, particularly their Badin Works and dams of the Yadkin Project, North Carolina. USA:
•    Invites ALCOA President/CEO Klaus Kleinfeld to refute “The Alcoa Story” documentary and respond to questions surrounding smelting operations.
•    Eszter Vajda challenges The UNC School of Journalism’s critisms.
•    Eszter Vajda questions EPA / OSHA citation policy and DENR’s position on cyanide monitoring along with aleged ALCOA Counter Measures proposals passed DENR’s way.

The Press Release

Eszter’s press release spans two following content pages and should bring focus to the story she has been trying to bring to the people despite being subpoenaed for her work before it was complete and the immense pressure applied via both her employer UNC-TV and the State whilst trying to maintain her seasoned journalistic integrity on a complicated story not yet complete!
 
Over the past six months I’ve been embroiled in the biggest journalistic story of my life. It deals with the relationship between big business, people and the environment. In this instance its ALCOA, we all like aluminum in our lives and I am sure various aspects of ALCOA’s operations are exemplorary. However my reporting of this story has focused on the aluminum smelting and raw materials processes of ALCOA, and my detailed investigations so far have shown contradicting evidence to what ALCOA and its supporters promote.

I have examined the materials provided to me by ALCOA, and indeed have asked further detailed questions directly from ALCOA which I am still waiting for response. At all times I have been willing to listen to what ALCOA’s management have wanted to say, and time after time answers to questions I presented left me with holes which didn’t add up.

It is understandable that people are going to take a close look at my reporting output on the issue of ALCOA’s environmental and human record to date, specifically concerning its smelting (aluminum reduction) operations and raw materials handling. I felt the pressue and responsibility of this early on in my discovery and repeatedly pointed out my concerns to UNC-TV management of the impracticallity of trying to tell the story in three short NC NOW pieces after management decided they hadn’t the resources to produce a documentary to tell the story properly.

Initially I feel ALCOA welcomed my interest in the issues surrounding the Yadkin Relicensing, I had seen plenty of Gene Ellis and lobbyists for both sides down at the Legislative building during my weekly coverage when they are in session, but after asking probing questions during the ALCOA interview things began to change and over the coming months I felt an immense weight from all sides and the growing facts weighing on me regarding this story.

I was thrust into unexplored territory of a subpoena for the materials of my work, at the same time as having to produce the short NC NOW pieces.  I had not finished my work on this project, I had only just recorded a technical interview days before and not digested the content fully; let alone pull the project together in its entirety. Having spent a whole day in the JII committee waiting for the hearing on the Tuesday with only the first NC NOW piece fully ready for that evening’s airing on UNC-TV, I knew that I would have problems working to get the 2nd and 3rd NC NOW pieces prepared properly.  Did I funnel the volumes of infromation to a point that people got it? Or did I drop the ball?  I certainly wasn’t ready and by the end of Thursday I was hugely upset, on this occasion the multitude of pressures got to me and I acknowlege there were presentation mistakes. Yet the facts stand up and it is without doubt that they will all become apparent in the coming months.

The UNC School of Journalism’s critical review over the three NC NOW pieces have numerous errors in their evalutions and are certainly out of context with what actually transpired.  I value their input and great journalist training that they provide. However I challenge them to back up their wrong statements by runing their own full journalistic investigation into ALCOA’s smelting operations.  I will be extremely interested to see what they unveil and where their resultant reporting on the facts would differ.
 
As for the incorrect assumption of my relying only on documents 40 years old and one lawyer, that is also totally incorrect as I have nationwide professionals; legal documents; and reports all the way up to present day.  This story continues to develop; since the subpoena I am being inundated with calls from Stanly County and across the whole country concerning smelting related problems with ALCOA.

There is still more questions based on what I have uncovered that need to be addressed:

1. ALCOA has a large number of test wells drilled across their lands that have continually been privately lab tested for heavy metals and cyanide movements in the ground water. They monitor cyanide specifically as an indicator of their own activities, yet where are the EPA and DENR or the Counties on cyanide monitoring?
2. The EPA and OSHA regularly cite ALCOA, yet how come this information is not passed between states and even though ALCOA stopped producing Aluminum in 2002, ALCOA seem proud of only three further citations since that date.  What punitive difference do OSHA and the EPA think they are having by simply citing repeated offences by ALCOA to the environment and its employees?
3. ALCOA are in a rush to demolish and sell their Badin works smelting site. Who will have oversight of ALCOA during the flattening and removal of wastes from the site? During my interview with Gene Ellis he confirmed that there are still hazardous materials in the facility.  Is there a way to hold ALCOA accountable when the level of community/environmental damage is finally realised and ALCOA is gone?
4. There’s various issues related to workers compensation laws specifically in North Carolina, which hinder equitable remedies to aleged injured parties.

I would like the opportunity to complete my reporting on ALCOA and besides asking ALCOA in advance of the JII hearing a number of very specific questions which have not been adequately answered to date, I have also extended an invitation to sit down with the CEO of ALCOA worldwide to discuss the merits, strengths and problems within ALCOA. 

This is why I became a journalist – to “sweap dirt from under the rug” so to speak, to bring information to the public that they don’t have, to arm them with information that sometimes is kept from them on purpose. 
________________________________________

(end of release)

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