AS THE PROJO TURNS Belo doesn't bite on ethics apple BY IAN DONNIS

The Belo Corporation has spurned the Providence Newspaper Guild’s request to find two top Providence Journal officials in violation of Belo’s ethics policy, declaring that the ostensible grounds are in dispute and subject to reversal.

Belo’s ethics guidelines prohibit violating the law. The Guild believes the ProJo is ripe for discipline since a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has found the newspaper guilty, in two decisions since September 2002, of 27 violations of federal labor law.

But in an August 6 letter to the Guild, Belo general counsel Guy H. Kerr wrote that the NLRB decisions "are not final, are being contested on appeal and are subject to change. Based on our understanding of the facts and circumstances, we have no reason to think the Guild’s accusations are valid. Moreover, the outstanding individuals you name [publisher Howard G. Sutton and Mark T. Ryan, the paper’s executive vice president and general manager] have certainly not been found guilty of any illegal conduct that would require disciplinary action."

As The ProJo Turns held out little expectation that Belo would sanction Sutton and Ryan (see "The Guild prods Belo on ethics," This just in, News, August 1). The duo has presided over a three-and-a-half-year union-management stalemate with nary a seeming squawk from corporate headquarters in Dallas. Indeed, since the union’s last contract expired in early 2000, three years after Belo acquired the Journal and a raft of television stations, many insiders have come to believe that management is on a mission to destroy the Guild — a charge previously denied by Sutton.

Kerr’s one-paragraph letter led Guild President John Hill to question whether regular employees would enjoy deferred judgment by Belo if they were convicted of assault, drunk driving, or a similar offense: "If you follow that rationale — if there’s some kind of finding of guilt, as long as there’s an appeal pending — the ethics policy won’t kick in," Hill says. Using such a standard would enable former Providence mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr., who is serving a 64-month sentence for a racketeering conspiracy conviction, to remain in office, Hill notes, since Cianci is appealing his conviction.

The Guild-management standoff remains invisible to most Rhode Islanders since the Journal, which reports on labor issues involving other major businesses in the state, shies from self-scrutiny. (Readers have also had the opportunity to enjoy a fair amount of in-depth reporting this year, including Gerald M. Carbone’s and Cathleen F. Crowley’s compelling seven-part narrative about former Warwick police officer Scott Hornoff, who served more than six years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder.)

To raise attention about the ongoing dispute, more than 40 ProJo employees protested outside the Journal Building on Fountain Street at midday on Thursday, August 21, highlighting what they call a disparity between Belo’s words and deeds. Hill told the Guild Leader, the union newsletter (www.riguild.org), that even though Belo chairman Robert Decherd frequently touts how much Belo values its workers, "We in Providence have never seen the Belo portrayed in those memos. We see a company that illegally took away a holiday, a week’s vacation for many members and a popular dental plan, and denied us raises for nearly four years."

Meanwhile, there are no signs of movement toward renewed contract talks, Hill says, after Guild members rejected a proposed deal in June and management rejected a request to resume bargaining.