A day after the Tribune’s parent company announced it will close the newspaper and its web sites on Dec. 31, I am surprised and heartened by the extensive range of people who have told me they are shocked by the news, saddened by the pending loss of a community voice, and praying for my colleagues and their futures. Even Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on Twitter this morning that it’s a “sad day,” which is impressive given the Tribune’s ups and downs with him.

But the reaction of other Valley journalists assigned to cover this news story was a little puzzling. As you might expect, those other publications wanted to hear from Tribune employees, to share their story in some fashion. However, as has been reported elsewhere, Tribune Publisher Julie Moreno asked that all media inquiries be referred to her office or to a public relations firm hired by the newspaper’s owner, Freedom Communications.

So those journalists got increasingly frustrated when no one else at the Tribune would speak with them. KPNX-TV (Channel 12) posted a camera crew outside the Tribune’s front door for several hours. Several newsroom staff members (including me) received a number of emails, phone calls and Facebook messages. They were generally polite and understanding, but some reporters practically begged us to comment.

The Arizona Republic and HeatCity.org got around the problem by interviewing former Tribune employees who were laid off (or retired) from the Tribune in January. But Heat City writer Nick Martin asked a question that I think was on the minds of many: Why would a company named Freedom Communications not allow its employees to speak freely? And why would employees about to lose their jobs honor a request to stay silent? I have a couple of thoughts:

• Freedom has a standing policy that only select executives are supposed to speak for one of its media outlets or the company as a whole. The policy was in place long before the current situation with the Tribune and Freedom’s bankruptcy proceedings.
• In fact, nearly every media corporation has a similar policy. Call it hypocritical if you want, but I challenge any of the reporters working for corporate media yesterday to say with sincerity that they would be free to talk if their employer was in a crisis. It’s how the corporate world works.
• No one at Freedom issued any threats if an employee ignored the publisher’s request. But honestly, why would anyone risk losing their job early, and any severance pay after the newspaper closes, just to give a quote to another media outlet?
• This story is about more than the 140 people who currently work at the Tribune. It’s about what the Mesa newspaper has meant to the community for the past 118 years, from its pioneer roots to its Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. I’m not sure anyone here gave much thought to quoting our colleagues in our first story about the newspaper’s closure. We wanted to share what the East Valley was thinking about the news of the day.

We at the Tribune will have plenty to say in the coming weeks and months about what this newspaper has meant to us. You can read a little bit of that in tomorrow’s editions. But our first priority Monday was the story and its impact on the community, not ourselves, just the way that the professionals at the Tribune always have done their jobs.

Posted in: Journalism • Arizona Republican • East Valley Tribune • Heat City • John McCain • KPNX-TV • Nick Martin • Phoenix Business Journal |

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