Saturday, April 15, 2000
Enquirer ex-editor sues Gannett
Charges he was made scapegoat for Chiquita debacle
BY Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The former editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer accused the newspaper's parent company Friday of making him a “scapegoat” for the legal debacle involving Chiquita Brands International Inc.
In a lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., Lawrence K. Beaupre claims that high-ranking company officials misled him and ruined his reputation in order to protect themselves and the company.
The lawsuit also states that some executives with the Gannett Co., the newspaper's owner, played an active role in producing articles that led to a costly legal settlement with Chiquita.
Mr. Beaupre alleges that Gannett's deal with Chiquita protected Gannett executives and made him the target of a criminal investigation.
He claims the deal also cost him his job as editor.
“(The company) kept the focus of the criminal investigation on the conduct of line employees at the Enquirer,” the lawsuit claims. “And away from its publisher, newspaper division executives and Gannett itself.”
In a strongly worded response Friday, Gannett executives denied Mr. Beaupre's allegations and said he is attempting to shift blame from himself to the company.
“Mr. Beaupre's complaint is full of inaccuracies,” the statement read. “The facts are that Gannett went to extraordinary lengths to safeguard Mr. Beaupre's professional reputation and his continued employment with the company.”
Mr. Beaupre would not discuss the lawsuit's allegations but said the company's response was a “curious interpretation of events.”
He still is a news executive with Gannett but has been on administrative leave for several months. He said the decision to place him on leave was the company's.
The Chiquita case began in 1997 when the newspaper began researching articles about Chiquita's business practices. The articles, published in 1998, included quotes from the voice-mail boxes of Chiquita executives.
At the time, the paper explained that tapes of the voice mails were obtained from a source within the company.
Later, however, the lead reporter on the articles, Michael Gallagher, admitted in court that he had illegally accessed Chiquita's voice-mail system. Mr. Gallagher had lied to editors, denying he had accessed the system directly, the Enquirer said.
Mr. Gallagher was fired and the paper published a front-page apology to Chiquita. Gannett also agreed to pay Chiquita more than $10 million.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Beaupre states that company executives never told him he would be forced out. He claims Chiquita's chairman, Carl Lindner, may have personally requested that Mr. Beaupre lose his job.
“Gannett also acceded to the demand, which was believed to come from Lindner himself, to remove Beaupre as editor,” the lawsuit states.
A Chiquita spokesman declined comment.
In their response, Gannett officials say they protected Mr. Beaupre's reputation and discussed the possibility of him becoming an executive at “one of Gannett's most successful newspapers.” He declined and according to Gannett was then offered a permanent position in the corporate news department.
“Mr. Beaupre rejected this offer, he said, because it did not include certain financial components and other perquisites,” the company said.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Washington, D.C., also alleges that Gannett executives and its Washington-based law firm consistently put their interests ahead of those of Enquirer employees.
Mr. Beaupre's lawsuit said some Gannett executives, including senior vice president/news Philip R. Currie, worked closely with him on Chiquita stories. Mr. Beaupre alleges that newspaper division president Gary L. Watson, a former Enquirer publisher, directed Mr. Currie to edit and rewrite portions of the articles.
But the lawsuit states that Mr. Beaupre was singled out for punishment as the “official executive scapegoat.”
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