BOSTON HERALD STAFFER SUSPENDED

By: Lucia Moses Columnist Had Accused Tabloid Of Censorship



The Boston Herald has indefinitely suspended without pay a staffer who
had accused his editors of censoring his stories about an advertiser.



Consumer and transportation columnist Robin Washington had said last
week he was ordered not to write any more stories about the
controversial Fleet-BankBoston bank merger. He says he was then
reassigned to general news. He was suspended Sunday.



The Newspaper Guild of Greater Boston, the Herald's editorial union, is
appealing the suspension on behalf of Washington, who is being
represented by Harvard Law Prof. Charles Ogletree.



Ogletree said the case makes him concerned about the price a reporter
must pay in pursuit of an issue of public concern. He said in the end,
he believes Washington will be known as a fair journalist who actively
sought the truth.



Reached at home Monday, Washington declined to comment. The newspaper
said in a statement that Washington had been suspended but declined to
comment further, saying the issue was an internal disciplinary matter.



In a show of support for Washington, the Guild last week sponsored a
petition condemning 'the unethical influence of advertisers and
business interests' over the paper's handling of the merger, which made
Fleet the nation's eighth biggest bank and resulted in higher bank fees
for many customers. The petition was signed by about 70 editorial
staffers and delivered to Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell, who
maintained that the paper has aggressively reported the story.



Separately, the union issued a statement that it had no evidence that
readers were 'disadvantaged' by the Herald's coverage of the bank
merger.



The paper's handling of Washington has concerned minority
organizations, which are monitoring the situation. 'To have someone of
any color and background demoted and then suspended indefinitely
without pay seems to be not a well thought-out personnel process,' said
Will Sutton, president of the National Association of Black Journalists
(NABJ), where Washington is parliamentarian in addition to being
president of the Boston chapter.



Sutton, who is deputy managing editor of The News & Observer in
Raleigh, N.C., added that it's 'abysmal' that the Herald has suspended
its only black news reporter. The NABJ is in the process of drafting a
letter to the paper and a statement, he said.



The Boston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) also is watching the case and plans to seek a
meeting with the Herald to discuss diversity issues once it has more
information, branch President Leonard Alkins said.



'Even police officers are suspended with pay pending an investigation,'
Alkins said. 'It just seems to me to be a very harsh decision if the
facts I read are true. If the paper bowed to an advertiser, that's a
very serious charge, because journalists should not be influenced by
advertisers.'



Washington, 43, has worked as a journalist for 23 years. He was
managing editor of the Bay State Banner, a weekly black-interest
newspaper, and has produced news and documentaries for radio and
television. He came to the Herald four years ago and has written the
consumer/transportation column since August 1998.



Related story:

GUILD CLAIMS CENSORSHIP AT BOSTON HERALD (04/27/00)