By: Lucia Moses Life After Chiquita Scandal Has Been Hell, Beaupre Says
Former Cincinnati Enquirer Editor Lawrence K. Beaupre says life
in the aftermath of the Chiquita Brands International scandal has been
'hell.'
'My reputation has been questioned publicly,' he said in a telephone
interview Thursday. 'My family has been put through public ridicule. My
career has been severely damaged.'
Beaupre presided over the botched 1998 investigation that eventually
led Enquirer parent Gannett Co. Inc. to pay more than $10
million to Chiquita and apologize to the fruit company in a front-page
retraction. Beaupre was fired April 26 from his job as a Gannett news
executive a couple of weeks after filing a lawsuit against the
Arlington, Va.-based company and its lawyers.
His suit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, claims that
Gannett made him the scapegoat for the series that became one of the
worst debacles in recent journalism history.
Once one of Gannett's top editors and credited for significantly
improving the Enquirer, Beaupre is back home in Cincinnati while
he looks for a job, longing to be a newspaper editor again and hoping
he can overcome the stain of Chiquita.
'Everybody knows about that and ... there's nothing I can do to
influence that,' he said. 'I think a lot of people know me and have a
sense of my ability as an editor. I think I've had a strong track
record, and that's been my record at the Enquirer.'
Beaupre's lawsuit alleges that company news executives and lawyers
played a major role in preparing the series for publication. The suit
claims they decided collectively to permit the series' lead reporter,
Mike Gallagher, to obtain internal Chiquita voice-mail messages that
would be used to back up the stories, and to put the stories through
intense scrutiny.
Gannett declined to comment beyond an April 14 statement in which it
refuted all Beaupre's allegations. Gannett said Beaupre was personally
and directly involved in preparing the series, while the company went
to great lengths to safeguard his employment and reputation.
After it was discovered that Gallagher stole the voicemail messages and
lied to his editors about it, Gannett quickly settled with Chiquita,
published a front-page apology in the Enquirer renouncing the
series, and fired Gallagher.
'There was a collective responsibility,' Beaupre said Thursday. 'That
included me, but also included other people in the Gannett company. We
all made good-faith decisions. Can we be faulted for a reporter lying
to us?'
The suit alleges that Beaupre was pressured to accept a job at
Gannett's suburban Washington headquarters in November 1998 to satisfy
Chiquita's demand that he leave the Enquirer. He held the job
until earlier this year, when he was put on administrative leave after
he began pursuing legal action.
Related stories:
CHIQUITA LAWYER SUES CINCINNATI ENQUIRER (09/28/99)
EX-CHIQUITA LAWYER PLEAS; PROBATION RESULTS (07/02/99)
EX-CHIQUITA LAWYER CLAIMS UNFAIRNESS (04/21/99)
FORMER CHIQUITA LAWYER REQUESTS CASE DISMISSAL
(04/13/99)
CINCINNATI REPORTER REVEALS SOURCE IN CHIQUITA CASE
(04/06/99)
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