McCartheys Go On Offensive In Salt Lake

By: Mark Fitzgerald With William Dean Singleton cleared by a federal judge to start operating this Thursday The Salt Lake Tribune -- the newspaper he has owned for 19 months but never run -- the McCarthey family management at the paper last week attempted to forestall the takeover by appealing not only to a higher court but to the court of public opinion.

Tribune management charged that newly revealed documents show that MediaNews Group Inc. Vice Chairman and CEO Singleton secretly agreed with the paper's joint-operating-agreement partner, the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News, to silence the Tribune's traditionally skeptical coverage of the church.

Singleton dismissed the allegation: "It's just preposterous. It's absurd. It's some kind of theory they dreamed up long ago."

Notes from a Deseret News Publishing Co. board meeting on July 12, 2000, list 11 points below a heading that appears to read "Dean agrees:" and includes the item, "2. not disparage the church." The board meeting was convened as the AT&T Corp. was attempting to rid itself of the Tribune. The notes, and a subsequent memo apparently prepared for leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, supported News management's view that Singleton's bid for the Tribune would be the best bet for the News. The memo says, "Singleton agrees to put these provisions into a written agreement." The second point in the memo says, "MediaNews, Inc. [sic] does not allow its papers to disparage anyone or organization on religious, racial, or ethnic grounds. The Tribune has a continuing history of snide, damaging stories, followed by expressions of regret."

Randy Frisch, chief operating officer for the family management's Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., said the memos are a smoking gun: "There is no doubt that Deseret News negotiators were 100% confident that Mr. Singleton agreed to limit the kind of editorial and news coverage of their owner. Faithful members of the church do not lie to their leaders. These documents make absolutely clear there was a deal -- and the deal is, there will be no more Tribune negativity toward the church."

But Singleton told E&P: "We have never agreed with anybody about how we'll conduct news operations. We have no under-the-table agreement to go easy on The Deseret News or the church or anybody else." Singleton noted that he's already said he is keeping current Tribune Editor James E. "Jay" Shelledy. "He would never stand for something like that," Singleton said. (Singleton himself will become chairman of the Newspaper Agency Corp., which handles production and business operations for the two papers.)

"I suppose it's possible Dean did not intend to keep his word," Frisch said. "That has been Mr. Singleton's method of operation for some time."

Developments last week buttressed Singleton's claim to the paper. On July 22, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart said the McCarthey group must turn over control of the Tribune Aug. 1, when its management rights expire. The same day, the family group can begin exercising a 120-day option to buy the Tribune. Complicating matters, Stewart has already ruled the family must get The Deseret News' permission to exercise the option. The News turned them down flat on June 26.

But Frisch, 43, said the fight is not over. The group expects a ruling either Tuesday or Wednesday on its appeal of Stewart's decision that it must relinquish the paper. And it is continuing a legal challenge of the News' veto over any sale. "The Deseret News does not have a right to pick who owns The Salt Lake Tribune," Frisch said. "It makes no sense in logic -- and it sure doesn't make sense under the Newspaper Preservation Act."