Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 30

Publisher won't meet with pols on job cuts

By ERIN EINHORN

State Sen. Vince Fumo has signed improbable treaties before, smoking (figurative) peace pipes with even his most unwavering enemies like electricians union chief John Dougherty.

But the peace gesture he made last week when he said he would work to save the jobs of reporters, copy editors and photographers at two Philadelphia newspapers seems destined for defeat.

Joe Natoli, publisher of Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc., which publishes the Daily News and Inquirer, said Sept. 29 that he would not meet with Fumo, Mayor Street and Gov. Rendell to discuss pending job cuts at the two papers.

"I called the senator's office on [Sept. 27] and thanked him for his concern," Natoli said. "But I was concerned about doing anything that would create even a perception of conflict of interest that could impact our journalism. We write about government so I don't want to be participating in a session like that that could have people questioning the integrity of our journalism."

Fumo requested a meeting with Natoli in a letter Sept. 23. He held a news conference in which he crowed about freedom of the press and said he was concerned that Philadelphia could lose as many as 100 jobs if Natoli proceeded with a plan to eliminate 75 jobs at the Inquirer and 25 at the Daily News through buyouts and possible layoffs.

It was an odd move for Fumo, he acknowledged, given that his attorney has accused the Inquirer of "unadulterated bias" for a series of stories detailing Fumo's taxpayer-funded dinners, his rides on a charity-owned yacht and his dealings with public utilities that put thousands of dollars into a Fumo-controlled nonprofit.

"If I would let my heart rule, I would probably be dancing around with glee," Fumo said Sept. 23. But he said that the job cuts would hurt the local economy and that he worried about the cuts' impact on democracy.

He asked Rendell and Street to join him in meeting with Natoli, suggesting that the three could offer tax breaks or economic development grants.

Sept. 29, in another letter to Natoli, Fumo said he was disappointed. "I believe we could have at least discussed the problem and possible ways to save these jobs without violating the editorial impartiality of the two newspapers," he wrote.