Influence on Boston papers not Fleet-ing

By: Lucia Moses Columnist's reassignment causes an uproar at the 'Herald'

The Boston Herald is known for its take-no-prisoners reporting that's exposed scandal, embarrassed businesses, and brought down politicians. But last week, a Herald employee accused the paper of censoring stories to placate Boston's biggest bank -- behavior that seems uncharacteristic of the tabloid.
Consumer and transportation columnist Robin Washington wrote last month about the bank's plan to increase fees for BankBoston customers whose accounts were switched to Fleet as part of the merger of the two banks, and the customer complaints that followed. He said senior editors killed potential follow-up stories, then told him not to write anything more about the bank. Last Tuesday, he was reassigned to general news.
"It's troubling," said Washington, who decided to speak out despite concerns about losing his job. "I still think the story needs to be told."
The Newspaper Guild of Greater Boston, which represents 300 Herald employees, sponsored a petition decrying the "unethical influence of advertisers and business interests" over the Herald's recent handling of the story. Some 68 staffers signed the petition, which was delivered to Herald Publisher Patrick Purcell.
"The merger of Fleet and BankBoston affects many, many people, including many of us," said Lesley Phillips, Guild president. "It was a bit stunning, and reactions from some of our reporters were of disbelief." She said the Guild is looking into whether Washington's reassignment violated the union contract.
Purcell issued a statement, saying, "I am extremely disturbed by the petition" and that "It's ridiculous to accuse us of being influenced by 'advertising and business interests.'"
Purcell maintains that the Herald has reported aggressively on the merger. "We make hundreds of choices every day," the statement reads. "Reporters constantly vie for front-page treatment. Judgements [sic] are made based on our readers' interests. Sometimes stories continue, sometimes they run out of steam."
Boston-based Fleet became the eighth-largest U.S. bank after its $16-billion union with BankBoston, giving it some 1,300 branches in the Northeast.
The newspaper has a line of credit with Fleet and could be a lender on the paper's planned press purchase.
Questions about Fleet's influence haven't been limited to the Herald. Last month, The Boston Globe refused to run a $25,000 full-page ad from a national housing advocacy group, Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America (NACA), which then complained of censorship. The Globe said it checked parts of the ad copy with Fleet and rejected it over concerns about its accuracy.
The NACA ad rejection was noted in the Globe's report about the group's protesting at the bank's annual meeting, but was not mentioned in a story last Friday about Washington's complaints. The author, Mark Jurkowitz, said he didn't address the issue because of space and time constraints.
Washington said he pitched a story about the ad and the NACA's plan to protest at the annual meeting, but was told no. "Our marching orders at the Herald are to beat the Globe," he said. "I had a beat-the-Globe and embarrass-the-Globe" approach. Three days later, the alternative weekly Boston Phoenix ran a story about the ad.
Fleet spokesman Jim Mahoney said he had complained to the Herald twice about Washington's reporting tactics. But "there was no conversation between me or anyone else at Fleet in which advertising was related to those matters," he said.
Mahoney objected that Washington taped calls by his "significant other" to the bank to inquire about the fees. The calls led to a story in which Washington reported that one of the bank employees ended a call with the word "bitch." In another instance, Mahoney said Washington "eavesdropped" on a conversation by bank employees in a coffee shop.
Washington said the woman was a bank customer and that she made the calls because she had received a letter detailing the fee changes. Taping the call was legal, he said. In the coffee-shop case, he said he represented himself as a Herald reporter to the employees.
As the Fleet story began to heat up and the bank's denials of wrongdoing became more forceful, Washington said, Editor Andrew Costello ordered him to "'move on to something else,'" and "'You have a difficult beat, and there are certain realities to the business you have to understand.'"
Washington came to the Herald four years ago and became its first consumer columnist in August 1998. An executive officer for the National Association of Black Journalists, he has publicly criticized the paper for not having a more diverse staff.
It's not the first time the Herald has declared certain topics off-limits, Washington said. He said he's been discouraged from writing about local car dealerships and supermarkets.
Other staffers have rallied around Washington and evinced concern about the issues he raised. Some also expressed surprise, noting that the paper has aggressively covered Fleet and other major advertisers in the past.
One reporter, Eric Convey, said he's aggressively covered a few major advertisers and never had a problem. Joe Bartolotta, the Herald's last banking reporter, said he wrote some 100 stories on the merger last year, and never felt any pressure to go easy on the bank.
"The Herald is very much a consumer newspaper," said Bartolotta, who now works in public relations. "That's what puzzles me over the situation. I like Robin, and I think he's a good reporter. On the other hand, I'm finding it hard to believe he was restrained that much because it never happened to me." The Guild and other staffers point out that, a year ago, a column by former business columnist Beth Healy, now at the Globe, was spiked because it referred to the bank union as a takeover rather than a merger. Editors at the Herald declined to comment.

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(copyright: Editor & Publisher May 1, 2000)