By: E&P Staff Two days after E&P
revealed that Ventura County (Calif.) Star Managing Editor Richard Luna had been disciplined for ethics violations, the newspaper Wednesday published details of the breaches.
In an unbylined story, the newspaper said Luna "was sanctioned for seeking, and in one case accepting, press credentials for college basketball games he did not cover for the paper." The paper said that violated the ethics policy of the Star's parent company, E.W. Scripps Co., that forbids journalists from taking "anything of value that is given them solely because they are members of the media."
The Star said Luna used press credentials to attend the NCAA championship basketball game in Indianapolis last month.
"He also directed midlevel editors to pressure a sports reporter into seeking media credentials for him to other events," the paper said. The account quoted Editor Joe Howry as saying those credentials were unavailable, and Luna did not attend the games.
The newspaper did not detail the discipline meted out for those violations, saying Howry would not comment on specifics because it is a personnel matter.
As first reported by E&P, the newspaper said that Howry and Publisher Tim Gallagher had asked Scripps' director of employee relations, Mary Minser, to conduct an investigation of the incidents, including new allegations the newspaper said came from "newsroom staff."
Howry told his newspaper that he had planned to publish an account of the episode after Minser's investigation was complete. "However, other news organizations became aware of the story," the newspaper said. The Associated Press filed a story on the ethics violations Tuesday evening.
"It is unfortunate this has leaked before we could conclude the investigation," Howry was quoted as saying in the Star account. "That would have been appropriate and fair to Rich."
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