Newsday editor back on job after Cablevision dispute
BY JAMES T. MADORE
[email protected]
8:42 PM EST, January 20, 2009
A dispute between Newsday editor John Mancini and owner Cablevision Systems Corp. over editorial content appeared to have been resolved Tuesday, when he returned to the newspaper's Melville headquarters.
Speaking to newsroom staff, Mancini said his absence since Wednesday "was due to a difference of opinion with ownership over the editorial policy of Newsday. That has been settled."
He declined to offer details, but said: "No one outside the newsroom influences . . . our news coverage in any way." Applause erupted, followed by many questions from staffers.
Mancini said there would be "no change in direction. Our only concern is that we get it right. Let's do our jobs and tell the story straight."
Asked whether the words "you're fired" or "I quit" were used in his disagreement with Cablevision, he said, "Words to that effect were uttered."
Rumors have circulated that Cablevision was angry about coverage of a sex harassment lawsuit filed against Eddy Curry of the New York Knicks; the team also is owned by the Bethpage-based cable operator. Mancini declined to comment when asked whether Knicks' coverage sparked the dispute.
Such confrontations aren't unusual after a news organization is purchased by a company with no previous industry experience, experts said, citing similar controversies after General Electric brought NBC and Walt Disney Co. purchased ABC.
"These sorts of growing pains are not unheard of . . . what is important is what's learned from the confrontation, not that the confrontation occurred," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Pew Research Centers' Project for Excellence in Journalism. "The newspaper is in the business of telling it like it is and that's a hard lesson to learn."
Mancini said he had decided not to return to the newsroom "until I had clarity that the editor was expected to perform his job as he had done."
When asked when he got clarity, he said "this morning."
Mancini said Publisher Timothy P. Knight, who declined to comment, and some at Cablevision had been supportive of his stance.
While staffers seemed relieved that Mancini had apparently protected newsroom integrity, many in their questions expressed concern that similar confrontations could lie ahead.
"I do sense a great deal of skepticism on the part of colleagues," said reporter Zachary R. Dowdy, editorial vice president for Local 406 of the Graphic Communications Conference/International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "Right now, we are looking at it with pretty guarded optimism."
But Mancini said he felt the disagreement had produced an "understanding" of the need for newsroom independence. He also said Newsday's coverage is "valued at the highest levels" of Cablevision. "They said they liked the paper."
Cablevision purchased Newsday last year for $650 million. Since then there have been few changes in the top ranks of the newspaper's management.
Managing editor Deborah Henley also returned to the newsroom Tuesday. Managing editor Debby Krenek was in Melville on Monday. Both declined to comment Tuesday.
A Cablevision spokesman referred questions to Newsday where spokeswoman Deidra Parrish Williams said, "In the course of getting to know one another, it is not at all uncommon for businesses to have thoughtful and impassioned exchanges of ideas. The positive outcome reaffirms the integrity of Newsday's coverage."
Staff writers Emi Endo and Carrie Mason-Draffen contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.
