AS THE PROJO TURNS Not giving credit where credit is due BY IAN DONNIS

It seemed like a worthwhile follow-up when the Providence Journal’s well-read "Political Scene" column reported May 31 that Rhode Island’s top transportation official had reversed himself and was again allowing Barry Schiller, a leading environmental activist, to take part in regular meetings of environmentalists and state officials. James R. Capaldi, director of the state Department of Transportation, after all, attracted criticism for squelching free speech by banning Schiller after he had criticized Governor Donald L. Carcieri. The only problem was that the ProJo — which had not previously reported on Schilling’s banishment, as a search of the paper’s electronic archives shows — offered a false impression that it originated this story.

In part, the "Political Scene" item reports, "In April, Schiller accused the governor, who owns waterfront property in North Kingstown near the old [Jamestown] bridge, of being ‘influenced by some of his wealthy neighbors’ who wanted it gone." Schiller’s accusation initially appeared in a March 5 Phoenix story by Steven Stycos (News, This just in, "Bike advocates rap plan to raze Jamestown bridge"). Stycos then broke the story of Schilling’s exile (see "Activist banned for critical remark about Carcieri," News, This just in, April 16). ProJo reporter Bruce Landis, who wrote the "Political Scene" item, declined comment, and executive editor Joel P. Rawson declined comment through an assistant.

The ProJo, which has traditionally enjoyed outsized influence in little Rhode Island, generally goes out of its way to ignore the Phoenix — a fairly common dynamic between metro dailies and alternative weeklies. In a rare exception, a May 2003 story by ProJo medical writer Felice Freyer credited the Phoenix after Stycos reported that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island was backing merger talks between the Landmark and Roger Williams medical centers.

More recently, the Journal has done bravura work in revealing possible conflicts on the part of several legislators, including former Senate president William V. Irons and former Senator John A. Celona. Yet although Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has partially figured in some of these stories, the ProJo seems to have missed some of Stycos’s spade work on one of the biggest stories of the last year — what critics see as Blue Cross’s secretive and autocratic dominance of Rhode Island’s health insurance market.

Some ProJo reporters readily acknowledge that Stycos led the way with "Blue Cross does what it wants," a lengthy expose published in the Phoenix on October 3, 2003. Among other things, the story revealed how annual payments to Blue Cross’s board of directors soared, from nothing in 1999 to more than $600,000, as the insurer gathered 65 percent of the group insurance market in the state. The story also highlighted burgeoning compensation for such execs as Blue Cross president Ronald Battista, who resigned last month, and it cited Battista as the likely recipient of a $600,000 insider loan

In the world according to the ProJo, however, a front-page April 29 news story explains, "The Journal has recently exposed Blue Cross executives’ salaries and perks, including the decision to forgive a $600,000 loan to Battista." A May 6 column by political columnist M. Charles Bakst says that Blue Cross began to spin a reform image "only after engaging in hideous, self-serving practices that were finally exposed or showcased by the Providence Journal." And a May 8 chronology on Battista’s rise and fall says it was a November 24, 2003, ProJo editorial that "reveals that members of the Blue Cross board of directors are paid annual salaries, with the chairman getting $25,000."

It could be, as Freyer suggests, that Journal editors don’t regularly read the Phoenix, and the Blue Cross story filtered out because of widespread discontent in the medical community. It’s also seems clear that Blue Cross & Blue Shield would not have remained a front-page story for months — with such eventful outcomes as Battista’s departure and heightened scrutiny of ethics lapses at the State House — without a thorough commitment from the Journal.

For its part, though, the Rhode Island Medical Society credits the Phoenix with getting the ball rolling. An article in the society’s spring newsletter notes that it was business as usual for Blue Cross until, "The Providence Phoenix was the first to break the ice with an October front-page article . . . The Stycos article was well-researched, and it unearthed legitimate public concerns about Blue Cross — concerns that have led to sharp public criticism and legislative scrutiny of the state’s largest health insurer." Starting in October 2003, "with the Phoenix articles and the groundbreaking ProJo editorial, ‘Questions on Blue Cross,’ in November, the flood gates started to open."