Name: How the Huntsmans Have Failed With The Salt Lake Tribune, Per a Former Tribune Reporter | by Rhett Wilkinson | Beehive Blunders | Medium
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How the Huntsmans Have Failed With The Salt Lake Tribune, Per a Former Tribune Reporter | by Rhett Wilkinson | Beehive Blunders | Medium

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Note: This is Part V of a series of stories about issues The Salt Lake Tribune has faced.Noting that the Huntsmans — the one with the late Jon Huntsman Sr., former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. and Salt Lake Tribune President Paul Huntsman — are a “big, powerful family in this town,” former Tribune white-collar crime reporter Tom Harvey doesn’t think Huntsman Sr. and Paul Huntsman wanted “real, hard-core stories” that “strike.”“I think they would be reluctant to run any types of stories about the political elite of the state,” Harvey said.Harvey pointed to a story by Tribune reporter Lee Davidson that referenced former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes having a friendship with former legislator Kevin Garn. Two or three days later, Huntsman Sr., who died in Feb. 2018, wrote a letter to the editor saying that Hughes is a “good guy,” Harvey said.“The Huntsmans did not want any story in there that would disparage the reputation of Greg Hughes,” Harvey said. “The Huntsmans are reluctant to challenge the political establishment here as owners of the Tribune.”Harvey believes that Jon Huntsman Sr. was “committed” to the Tribune and “committed to keeping it alive,” and “it may have been a different outcome with the layoffs (in May 2018) had he still been alive.“But I think he, too, was reluctant to do things that would shake up the political order,” Harvey said.Harvey noted that Jon Huntsman Sr.’s “big crusade” was cancer and beating and finding cures for it — “and anything that helped his cause, he liked; anything that hurt his case, he would have opposed,” Harvey said.Hughes helped with the cause against cancer.“That’s where I think (Huntsman Sr.’s) affection for Greg Hughes comes from, although they have had a longer-standing relationship than that,” Harvey said.“But if you listen to what Jon Sr. said when he bought the Tribune, he gave the impression that the family was behind it; that the family fortune was behind the Tribune and committed to preserving it as a voice in the community,” Harvey said.Harvey offered various ways in which the Huntsmans have let down the Tribune and its readers.“This was an absolutely critical time for The Salt Lake Tribune when the Huntsmans bought it. And there was hope and some indication, I think, even from the Huntsmans, that they would be willing to invest in the Tribune and put some of the vast wealth into some of it … and (make) an effort to keep it alive … and hopefully have it prosper,” Harvey said.But then Huntsman Sr. died, “it was really Paul’s money” “and the Tribune was losing money hand over fist,” Harvey said. “And Paul himself was willing to sustain those losses in the hopes of turning the situation around in the future.”But then something major happened.“I think that when Jon died, Paul looked at the situation and said ‘I am not going to sustain this,’” Harvey said.If Huntsman Sr. hadn’t died, “maybe” there would have been a different approach, Harvey said.“But I think it was Jon … at least his rhetoric (said as much),” Harvey said. “And that does not necessarily translate into Paul.”“Paul said that he invested like a million dollars in the Tribune,” Harvey said.Harvey further explained: “What I think we took away from the whole thing, not just the part about (keeping) Terry (Orme on as editor), was that the family (was) behind it. And of course, the family is fabulously rich, and so (Tribune employees) were I think expecting that they were going to invest some of their money … not just to keep the Tribune going, but to reinvest in it and reinvigorate it.”Paul Huntsman didn’t return a request for comment.Huntsman mistakesAt the “critical time” in which the Huntsmans bought the Tribune, there were “some mistakes made,” Harvey said.“One of the mistakes” was hiring editors inexperienced not just in management, but in transitioning newspapers in “the rise of the internet,” Harvey said.Further, “money was put into the Tribune in ways that were not productive; investments did not yield any type of great improvement,” Harvey said.With the death of Huntsman Sr., “all these things, I think, come home to roost,” Harvey said.“That’s when you have these massive layoffs and what appears to be the downward spiral of the Tribune,” Harvey said.Huntsman laid off 38% of staff in May 2018.***Harvey’s responses to Huntsman claimsAt the meeting where Huntsman Sr. and Paul Huntsman announced that Paul Huntsman was buying the Tribune, the father and son said many things. Harvey had responses for many of those words.Jon Huntsman Sr.: “I would encourage you to put away some of your thoughts that the family is going to be an organ for the LDS church or for some other organization — the Republican Party.”Harvey: “That’s all well and good, but the best thing for The Salt Lake Tribune is to invest some money into it. Invest some money into it and rebuild it and that would have been the best thing for the community instead of laying off a huge chunk of the stuff and as a result, cutting coverage to the bone.”Jon Huntsman Sr.: His interest “first and foremost” is cancer — but the second is the Tribune.“That’s the order of priority,” Huntsman Sr. said to laughs. “You are number two on the list.”Harvey: “I think that was right. I think it was Senior’s priority and he was the one who drove this whole thing.”Harvey’s impression from the meeting about new ownership was that the family fortune was going to go into the Tribune.“Once Senior died, what was apparent is it seemed that Paul was the one who was out on the hook for it financially. I don’t know what his portion of the fortune is, but obviously … he felt it was draining for him … (he) didn’t have the enthusiasm or the financial oomph to keep things afloat there.“Once Senior died a couple of months later, he cut his losses,” Harvey said.Jon Huntsman Sr.: “Paul will always say ‘we will not tell you what to write.’”Harvey: “There was definitely an uptick in LDS coverage. They don’t want any hard-charging, investigative story that implicated anybody in our state power structure … that’s quite … obvious, at least in my case and (former Tribune reporter) Jennifer Dobner’s case.“It seemed quite evident that (Paul Huntsman and former Tribune editor Jennifer Napier-Pearce) didn’t want the story we were writing on … the corruption at (the Utah Transit Authority),” Harvey said.Jon Huntsman Sr.: “Paul is paying for this out of his own money. (It is) something that means a great deal to him.”Harvey: Huntsman met with staff a week before the “massive” layoff where he said he was “losing a lot of money” and needed to “put his kids through college,” and therefore, he had to take action through the layoffs, according to what multiple people told him.“So my takeaway from that was yes, it was Paul’s money that was going into that,” Harvey said.Harvey then talked about “investment in the online product” with Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos or a given rich individual who would “invest some of their own fortune in revitalizing the newspapers.”“It’s the billionaire newspaper owners,” Harvey said. “And that’s not what happened here. Paul did invest some money in the operation, but … it seemed to be largely wasted money. I think it was obvious that he wasn’t willing to put the funds in to keep the staff going … or try new things … online to revitalize the paper.”Paul Huntsman: “My passion in life is acquiring businesses and building businesses, so that will continue and that’s where, quite frankly, most of my time will be … I’m not sure, quite frankly, how often I will be spending down here, whether it’s one day a week, two days a week. I do have a sneaky feeling and suspicion that most of my emotions and energy will be consumed with the events and the issues surrounding The Salt Lake Tribune. I just don’t see how I am ever going to escape that, but I look forward to figuring out how that is going to work.“But it’s my commitment, it’s all of our commitment to start a new chapter and to begin making the decisions that are the best interest of The Salt Lake Tribune right here out of this building, rather than out of Denver or out of New York,” Paul Huntsman said to applause.Harvey: “I don’t know how many days he is going to be there.”For what it’s worth, in March, the Tribune filed as a nonprofit organization, according to State of Utah Division of Corporations &amp; Commercial Code documentation. Huntsman, as the “president” of the Tribune, can still hire and fire all of the Tribune’s staff and personnel, according to documentation filed with the Internal Revenue Service.Written by

Note: This is Part V of a series of stories about issues The Salt Lake Tribune has faced.Noting that the Huntsmans — the one with the late Jon Huntsman Sr., former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. and Salt Lake Tribune President Paul Huntsman — are a “big, powerful family in this town,” former Tribune white-collar crime reporter Tom Harvey doesn’t think Huntsman Sr. and Paul Huntsman wanted “real, hard-core stories” that “strike.”“I think they would be reluctant to run any types of stories about the political elite of the state,” Harvey said.Harvey pointed to a story by Tribune...

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How the Huntsmans Have Failed With The Salt Lake Tribune, Per a Former Tribune Reporter | by Rhett Wilkinson | Beehive Blunders | Medium

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