Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Newspapers publish apology for inaccurate Readers' Choice Awards

The publishing company of three daily newspapers in Bucks and Burlington Counties apologized Monday in a front-page letter for inaccurate results in their 2011 Readers' Choice Awards.

The publishing company of three daily newspapers in Bucks and Burlington Counties apologized Monday in a front-page letter for inaccurate results in their 2011 Readers' Choice Awards.

"I regret to inform you that the voting results for several of the categories were not accurately reflected in the special advertising section in which the results were announced," Calkins Media vice president Thomas J. Spurgeon wrote in the letter to readers and advertisers.

Calkins Media publishes the Bucks County Courier Times, the Doylestown Intelligencer, and the Burlington County Times, plus four papers in Western Pennsylvania and one in Florida. It also owns three television stations in the South.

The letter did not give details about the company's investigation of the annual contest, which ranks the most popular local businesses in more than 200 categories ranging from Best Accountant to Best Yoga Studio. It did say that the "inaccurate representation of the vote totals . . . was not influenced by our advertisers or the newsroom."

Spurgeon declined to discuss the source of the inaccurate totals, the number of incorrect winners, or how the problem was detected. Readers cast votes by mail and on the company's website.

"The story stands as written," he said.

Spurgeon conducted an initial investigation, then enlisted the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. "to ensure a thorough and impartial review," according to the letter.

The results of the contests "did not reflect the high ethical standards that we set for ourselves," Spurgeon wrote.

This year's contests will be revamped, the letter said, with votes tabulated by a "third-party accounting firm," and a corporate ombudsman will oversee the process. Ads will no longer be published in the section that lists all winners and runners-up and highlights some of them.

Said Barbara Szollosi, owner of the Bucksville House, in Kintnersville, Upper Bucks County, which, for the last two years, has won Best B&B: "If they revise it and it comes out fairer, it would be best for everybody."