Projo’s Editorial “R.I. Must Change” is Pure Hypocrisy

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

In the past two years, the Providence Journal has hired one of the state's top lobbyists to kill a provision that would have saved taxpayers millions. The newspaper also wrote editorials supporting historic tax credit legislation all the while the company was submitting an application to the state looking for millions in tax credits.  At no time did the Providence Journal disclose their economic interest in the legislation. Their actions are in complete conflict with their own writing.

The Providence Journal, owned by out-of-state interests, hired big-time lobbyist Joe Walsh in both the 2014 and 2015 legislative sessions and paid him a reported $60,000 to do their bidding and preserve the provision that wastes an estimated million dollars a year propping up the finances of the Providence Journal at taxpayers expense.
The Providence Journal wrote in an editorial Sunday, “For too long, Rhode Island’s government has tended to be corrupt and inefficient, because elected officials have served special interests at the cost of the common good. Encouragingly, Rhode Island’s new leaders have promised to turn this around at long last. That is why some recent activity in the General Assembly is so disappointing.”
The Providence Journal should love the leadership of Speaker Gordon Fox and Nick Mattiello as both of their leadership teams removed the budget provisions submitted by then-Governor Lincoln Chafee and present Governor Gina Raimondo that would remove the antiquated provision that requires the state to spend millions on legal notices in the Providence Journal.
Today, the Providence Journal is just one of many news outlets in the state, and the most important stories are more often broken by WPRI, WJAR and GoLocalProv. The Providence Journal is most likely to run a generic Associated Press story. Moreover, it is clear by independent research sources ranging from Pew Research to iMarketer, that newspapers' reach is being depleted and the industry only controls about 4% of the consumers news consumption.

  The idea of legal notices still being published in a newspaper in the year 2015 is absurd.
“Rhode Island desperately needs to change its ways if it is to avoid a financial meltdown and turn around its economy. The state’s outlook will be shrouded in gloom unless its legislators can begin to let go of special-interest politics and allow local communities to run at least efficiently enough to stave off bankruptcy,” wrote the Providence Journal editorial.
As GoLocal reported in December of 2013:
Common Cause, Rhode Island's leading public disclosure organization, raised questions about the Providence Journal's activities. "I think it raises a legitimate question, which is, "Did the editorial board know what the business side was doing? I don't know. But it begs the question," said John Marion, Executive Director of Common Cause. We support the words of the Providence Journal editorial about the need for positive reform and change, but sadly their words are empty. Maybe the words would ring truer if you fired your lobbyist, returned the taxpayer subsidy and disclosed the conflicts for your efforts to secure millions in tax credits.
Source: Editorial by Golocalprov.com