Ethical Lapse by Ventura Paper's M.E. Triggers Staff Furor

By: Mark Fitzgerald An ethics violation by Ventura County (Calif.) Star Managing Editor Richard Luna has roiled the newsroom over the past week, forcing a mass meeting with the publisher--and prompting the newspaper to bring in the head of human resources at parent E.W. Scripps Co. to investigate allegations of other ethical breaches by Luna.

According to Publisher and President Tim Gallagher, and the accounts of several journalists who talked about meetings held to address the situation, a sports reporter was pressured to obtain press credentials for Luna to attend two Final Four college basketball tournament games. At issue, Gallagher said in a telephone interview Monday night, is Luna?s role in getting those credentials. He did not report on the games, and would not ordinarily have qualified for the credentials.

?I?m in a difficult situation, trying to protect privacy because we?ve taken a personnel action on this,? Gallagher said. The issue, he said, is ?how much pressure did Rich apply, and how much pressure other editors applied in order to, you know, please the boss.?

Gallagher said ?an appropriate disciplinary action has been taken, one that?s based on past practices. And he took it kind of stoically.? Gallagher said to protect personnel privacy he could not discuss exactly what the discipline was.

?He knows he?s wrong, and he?s acknowledged he was wrong,? Gallagher said.

Gallagher said in addition to investigating other rumored ethical violations, Mary E. Minser, Scripps? director of employee relations, will look at how top management handled the investigation and discipline of Luna.

?She?ll also be looking at my behavior and Joe?s behavior,? Gallagher said, referring to Editor Joe Howry. ?Did we handle it properly, in an open and ethical way? Joe and I certainly feel we did do that, but I don?t think it?s the worst thing in the world to have someone look over our shoulders.?

Journalists and others in the newsroom, however, say they have been frustrated by what they say has been a lack of transparency in the process. Nothing has been published about the ethical breaches in the paper, and Luna and top management have not detailed how the managing editor was disciplined.

?The editors don?t seem to get it, and we?re saying, why aren?t we looking into this?? said staff writer Tamara Koehler. ?They?re only doing this now because there was such upheaval from the staff--you know, the peasants were coming with pitchforks.?

Columnist Colleen Cason said at first the staff had only heard rumors of an ethical breach, but didn?t know what, exactly, it was. ?And no one was going to tell us,? she said. First, section editors were informed, and finally the meeting with Gallagher--attended by at least 50 people, according to staff accounts--was held on Thursday. "Everybody had tough questions to ask, because this is something we felt was really important, that a newspaper, a media company as they like to call it, has to have integrity...Everybody felt in the newsroom that this spoke to the very core of what we do.?

The meeting was occasionally emotional, with one copy editor breaking down in tears, according to another reporter, who asked not to be identified. By all accounts, Luna did not directly address the allegations, or the other rumored allegations of ethical lapses, but he did apologize for his conduct.

?The meeting was very much, here?s what we?re going to say, take it or leave the company,? one reporter said.

Luna has met with newsroom staff individually about the incidents. According to one reporter who met with him, Luna read from a prepared statement that he did not elaborate upon.

Luna did not return a phone message from E&P seeking comment.

Publisher Gallagher said he held the staff meeting to tell employees what management knew to be true of the allegations floating around, and what was done about them.

?Scripps is a company that takes (ethics) very, very seriously,? Gallagher said. ?And I told them, if you?re aware of anything in Rich?s case or Joe?s or my case, I want you to know there?s a corporate pipeline you can go to.?

Luna joined the paper as managing editor in August 2004, about five months after he abruptly left the Detroit News, where he was metro editor. Press reports at the time noted that the year before he had also suddenly left his position as managing editor of the Indianapolis Star.

Gallagher said Luna was a ?superb? journalist. ?We have come a long way as a newspaper since he?s been managing editor,? he said, adding that the paper had never won more awards than in this last year.

Star staffers who talked to E&P, however, were decidedly less complimentary. No one would talk on the record about other alleged ethical violations. One allegation that was repeated by nearly every journalists appeared to have nothing to do with Luna?s newspaper work.

The paper has so far published nothing about the credentials incident. Publisher Gallagher said his feeling, at this point, is that since the ethics breach did not directly affect readers there was no need to publish a story. However, he noted that under Scripps policy that decision is not his, but Editor Howry?s.

?My inclination right now is full disclosure,? Howry said. But he also said he didn?t want to publish until the investigation had been concluded. Minser begins her investigation next week and ?will have full access to everybody,? he added.

Howry said--and newsroom staffers confirmed--that he and other top management have encouraged employees to talk freely to Minser.

?I have told everybody, whether they talk to her--and even when they talk to you--please tell everything you feel, and don?t be afraid,? he told E&P.