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Show TheSaltLakeTribune SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2000 + heSataeSebo rialopiate rate maneuvers, though, is a story line troubling for any Utahn who independentreport- Bygaining ing and comment. For the moment, The Tribune is owned by AT&T but operated independently by a management company comprised offormer owners and directors. In 20 months, AT&T would be legally required to sell The Tribune anditsassets to this managementteam, people who havebeen associated with this 129-year-old institution for decades or whose families owned the newspaperfor nearly a century. The Deseret News, with the approval of the LDS church leadership, tried to coerce AT&Tintosell’s parent company to the church byway. ofa threatened lawsuit. The News had by been promised ownership by a former AT&Tofficial, but the giant communications conglomerate © withheld formal approval. When those secret News dealings were exposed in October,the paper’s campaign becamea public more control of NAC,the Deseret News would be ina position to exerciseits . hidden agenda: to muffle, but notsilence, The Tribune. relations problem with a population already sen- sitive to the state’s quasi-theocratic status. Ini, News brass denied negotiating with AT&T. When faced with national newsstories to the contrary, they fessed up. The News hadenlisted the aid of Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and one whom AT&T wishes to keep amused. Deseret News owners insist they are not interested in controlling The Tribune perse,justits half of the Newspaper Agency Corporation (NAC), an entity owned jointly by the two newspapers for the past 47 years. This NACcontrols the make-or- thestate. On average, about 200,000 more readers pick up The than they do the Deseret News on weekdays, considerably more on Sundays. LDS ip, quite , wants its sectarian spin on certain news events to have atleast as loud a voice as The Tribune’s, however thatis attained. Thenotion ofsurrendering NACcontrol, naturally, was rebuffed by Tribune managers. Deseret News Publisher Jim Wall, fresh from Denverand looking for a wayto avoid another PR fiasco, told Tribune managementthis fall if it didn’t compromise he wouldsolicit the participation of his mentor, Dean Singleton, for whom Wall had worked mostofhis career. Singleton’s MediaNewswould buy the parent company, KearnsTribune, and become a more compliant NACpartner and be more understanding about the LDS Church's complaints against The Tribune. Singleton,until last year a memberofBrigham Young University’s Communications school board and whoowns the Park City Record as well as 51 dailies nationally, has a reputationfor taking business advantage ofawkward newspapersituations. Forbes magazinereferred to him as “the notorious badboy ofcheapskatepublishing.” What would Singletonget outof the deal? Nobody is saying, but a hard-nosed tycoonlike Singleton neitheroffers nor accepts free lunches. Be assured, enough ofa verbal pact was struck to make the Newsfeel positively giddy about AT&T’s intended sale. AT&T,for reasons it won't makepublic, fears seriously displeasing the LDS church and Hatch. Itrontends, probably for good reason,thatif it sid Kearns-Tribune to the management company, it would dojust that. The Singleton alternative seemed a perfect solution to a company — AT&T thatdid not want a newspaper to begin with. The News assured AT&Tthatif it sold to Singleton, the News would dropits threat ofa lawsuit. AT&T,in the midst of its own corporate meltdown, moved quickly= surreptitiously, anthe & Do I know eachofthe above premises to be true in principle? Yes. Can I prove every detail? No, it’s too murkyatthis point. To halt this conspiracy, The Tribune filed for a federal injunction against AT&T within hours of » the surprise announcement. It was the opening shot in what may be years oflitigation. In the soundandfury to come, be assured of fourthings: THE AMERICAS Compiled by JOHN LYDON acts.” The lawyers argued that Chilean ‘Judge Juan Guzman indicted Pinochet sy without questioning him first. Guzman Pinochet in connection with the “Caravan of Death,” a military group = that killed 73 political prisoners shortly * after Pinochetled a 1973 coup that ousted » socialist President SalvadorAllende. } MEI Salvador: Legislators approved 49-35 ‘a measure Thursday to adopt the U.S. , dollar as the official currency, a move : U.S. and International Monetary Fund | Officials praised, saying it would help El The Tribune to its rightful owners, no matter the legal cost. (See today’s lead editorialon AA-1.) WSingleton’s involvement cameatthe encouragementofthe owners andofficers ofthe Deseret News. as possible. © intendto 90toafewevents. 31 wit oat my observing through media coverage. Games as much as possible. - © thsureattistime vrsssssssseessrrteseeees “sy VOTE ON wre __-.__ bynoonFriday py oes WW With righteouslystraightfaces,there will be LAST WEEK’S RESULTS Q- Where should ihe next TRAX line be constructed? 68%— To South Jordan 6%— To Draper dent newspaperin Utah, wewill prevail. God bless The Tribune. ae Bee oben 15% — To West Valley City Ec 51%Tothe SL Aiport Gnternet polls are unscientificand Editor eae of anyone other EUROPE / AFRICA Views THE UNITED STATES ! Werld abance Smee Bas eee We ass Aa l : either the dollar or the colon in daily transactions,starting Jan.1. W@Britain: The government announced Saturday that it would forgive more than $1.43 billion in debt from 41 of the world’s poorest countries — provided thy can ensure the money goes toward health care, education and alleviating poverty. Treasury chief Gordon Brown's office said 12 nations, including Cameroon, Honduras and Senegal, would have their debt payments written off itely, while aneee ety a One ae ment’scriteria by the end of the year. In all, $850 million in debt will be forgiven this year. = W Brazil: A report on organized crime and drug trafficking released Thursday by Congress implicated nearly 200 public authorities, including national and state congressmen,police, judges, mayors and city. councilmen. The committee that directed the inquiry recommended investigating 75 police officials for crimes ‘ ranging from extortion to drugtrafficking. The inquiry marked the first time Congresshas taken such a long and detailed look into the country's »25 billion drug-trafficking trade. MOUNT RUSHMORE2000 @ Cuba: Fifty ailing Venezuelans arrived for medical treatment Thursday as part KIRSCHEN JERUSALEM POST ISRAEL —of Venezuela's agreement to provide the PACIFIC / FAR EAST / MIDDLE EAST communist country with oil. Under the agreement, Venezuela exports an unspec- ified amountofoil to Cuba in exchange for medical services, sports training and sugar. All of the patients are poor and unableto pay for medical care. torches fought to reach screaming passen- Mexico: President Ernesto Zedillo, in gers trapped in the mangled wreck of a train after it rammed into derailedfreight his last week in office, announced Mon- cars in a dense fog Saturday in northwestday that Mexico had signed a pact with ern India. At least 36 people werekilled the European Free Trade Association. and 150 wereinjured, 45 critically. Cars The deal will remove mosttariff barriers from the freight train had derailed and between Mexico and Switzerland, Liecht- fallen onto an adjacenttrack at Sarai Ban' enstein, Norway andIceland by 2007. The jara station, police said. Just five minutes p‘ct adds to Mexico’s free trade deals later, the passenger train came rushing ; with Canada and the United States, six through the rural town in Punjabstate. agreements in Latin America, 15 in the India records around 300 accidents a year + Eurepean Union and Israel, and an onits railroads. Most are blamed on huagreement with El Salvador, Guatemala * man errvr or outdated equipment. and Honduras. @ Myanmar: Myanmar’s military govern| Venezuela: Defying threats of interna- mentfreed six top members of the opposi| tional sanctions, President Hugo Chavez tion National League for Democracy from | proposes suspending hundreds of union house arrest Friday. But the government | leaders for six months, g' ing workers a said party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and + chance to elect new ones bysecret ballot. her two top lieutenants would remain in | The unions under threat about | 2 million civil servants, customs, oil and have been held virtually incommunicado ' utility workers, teachers, journalists and and allowed visits only by close relatives : other private sector workers. Venezuelan since Sept. 21, after a dispute with the voters will decide the matter today in a government in Myanmar. Myanmar’srulreferendum. ing military, which kept Suu Kyi, the 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, under tant News Editor John Lydon formal house arrest from 1989 to 1995, re’ eefor The San Juan Star in Puerto fused to hand over powerafter her party Rico. e-mail: jlydon@sltrib.com decisively won a general election in.1990. a Retablished April 15, 1871. Published daily and Sun- Pid 1] 8a ideaCeol re teaes Sane art eer # $14.00 SundayOnly (Utah) Dally & Sunday (Ouse ego 1200 Sundays Only & Thanksgiving ....... $7.00 5.0 Member Audit Bureau of Circulations v ‘Rates may wbseibecnsoasecausesnscebesQMe 8.00 Daily & Sunday ADVERTISING NUMBERS Clasiied Advertising . (Ol) 2979000 Display Adverting W Australia; An Australian intelligence officer based in Washington hanged himself after Australian authorities interviewed him aboutrevealing sensitive information to the United States, a government report released Friday said. The report said Mervyn Jenkins,an officer for Australia’s secretive Defense Intelligence Organization, believed he faced up to seven years in prison. He had been interviewed about revi ents marked “AUSTEO” —for Australian eyes only — to U.S. agencies, the report said. Jenkins was cleared of any wrongdoing, but not before he committed suicide in Washingtonlastyear. Japan: Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori met with senior members of his ruling party Saturdayto discuss a planned Cabinet reshuffle aimed atrefreshing the image of his unpopular administration. The talks c...ne a dayafter Hiromu Nonaka,the second-in-command in Mori's Liberal Democratic Party, resigned.Political analysts speculated that the Liberal Democrats’ bond with the Komeito Party, their main ally in Japan's ruling coalition, was weakened by the resignation. VEEN, Richard Streeby worked asa translator in Tokyo. e-mail: rstreeby@sltrib.cort ms ‘TION NUMB! Cc CTRCULATION ers pT fos W Thailand: Longing for a good night’s sleep, an Indian man is auctioning offwhat are being touted as the world’s longest fingernails. Shridhar Malkaji Chillal, 61, hasn't cut the nails on the fingers ofhis left hand since he was 16. The five of them together now total almost 20 feet in length. Chillal showed off his fingernails at the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum on Saturday. He Daee them up re Internet auction and planning to cut them offand send them to the highest bidder.Chillal hopes to see a bid of more than $23,000. eeeeee ee mre (ISSN 0746-3502) y by iran: Eightrelatives and friends of five dissidents and writers who were killed by Iran's “rogue” intelligence agents in 1998 have been detained without any official explanation, a relative of one of those arrested said Saturday. The detentions, which come as President Mohammad Khatamihas beenfighting an uphill battle to diminish the domination of the hardliners and establishthe rule of law, appear to be an attempt to discourage people from turningthe killings into a larger issue, The eight were among hundredsof people attending a memorial ceremony marking the second anniversary of the death of dissident writer Majid Sharif. SUBSCRIPTION RATES TheSaltLakeTribune } Compiled by RICHARD STREEBY Windia: Railroad workers with blow- coe ON ams Compiled by BRIAN MACINTYRE @ Africa: With AIDS hitting Africa harder than any other continent, African leaders, international donors and the U.N. secretary-general will discuss a common front to curb the epidemic during a fiveday ponies that opens today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The U.N. Economic Commission for Africa ieories ae ~ participants to discuss p. venting and treating AIDSand and toee national responses to the epidemic that in the past two decades has left 13.7 million Africans dead out of a worldwide total of 16.3 million. Sub-Saharan Africa has only one-tenth of the global population, but ee bears the bruntof the disease with than 80 percent of the AIDS-related deaths in the world. of the ' Salvador compete globally. Under the ' © wide o-wantto beavolunteer. © pian toattend as many of the howls ofdenial of any complicity,all carefully crafted to avoid directly addressing thetrue issue. @ And,whilethis is a dark hour for The Tribune andfor all Utahns who cherish aindepen- LADIES AND aN THE PRESIDE! ' plan, banks would keep deposits in dol‘ lars while private citizens could use \ At What Level Will 7 You Be Watching The 2002 Olympics? INTERNATIONALSWEEK IN REVIEW . {Mi Chile: Lawyers for Gen. Augusto Pinochet on Saturday appealed his * indictment on homicide and kidnapping + charges,claiming the formerdictator has {been “subject to irregular and arbitrary i i UTAH ONLINE Interactive Survey © pinto ignore the Winter @ Tribune directors are ea to Da AT&Tto honorits contractual obligation to woorgemuooUNrdny SLYO}NAS SHALIM 9 SISINOOLHYD 6S EW a AAT break functions such as revenues, publishing, promotion anddistribution for both papers so they each can produce separate newsandedito- more control ofNAC,the News wee be ina position to exercise its hidden agen~ da: to muffle, butnot silence, The Tribune. How? By subtly squeezing it economically. Why? The Trib currently has considerably more influence in wy via: The nation’s chief banker says $1 billion transferred abroad under former President Slobodan Milosevic has been traced to Cyprus and other countries. National Bank Gov. Mladjan Dinkic said Fridaythat an organization called the In. ternational Bureau for Control of Foreign Assets traced the money.Hesaid the organization has offered help to Yugoslavia's new,pro-democracy authorities to retrieve the money from bank accounts in Cyprus andother countries. Many in Yugoslavia believe Milosevic and his cronies embezzled billions ofdollars during more than 10 years in powerin Serbia and Yugoslavia. Somehavecalled for criminal charges. @ Austria: Architect IM. Pei, who helped renovate the Louvre Museum in Paris, has been hired to plan major underground ex: tensions of Vienna's Fine Arts Museum. ‘The general director of the museum, Wilfried Seipel, made the announcement in the news magazine Profil, which appears Monday. The Chinese-born Pei, who lives in New York, is considered one of the world’s leading architects. His renovations of the Louvre, which were completed in 1993, include a spectacular glass pyramid. @Sierra Leone: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived Saturdayin this — ravaged nation, where he renewed the world body's commitmentto a U.N. peacekeeping force p! tional troubles and ibe attacks on civilians, Annan,whoflew in fora Se the United Nations is determined to Sierra Leone end nearly a decade of och war. But he made no mention of the Revolutionary United Front rebels, who have abandoned three peace accordssince 1991. i ‘lan Mac Intyre was wasa reporter in his native Dublin. e-mail: bmacintyre@ sltrib.com NEWSROOM NUMBERS * |
