Before he left the Providence Journal earlier this month as part of a buyout, Brian C. Jones took on an array of assignments during his 35-year tenure, from managing the Newport bureau and writing a weekly feature about unsung individuals to reporting on banking and the environment. But the thing that set him apart was his willingness to publicly speak about the Journal's internal issues and direction -- a stance that led some to perceive him as the conscience of the newsroom.

Jones remains uncomfortable with the description, saying that he felt more comfortable in speaking out because of his early level of job security. "Newsrooms in general are full of people of conscience," he adds. "To be a good writer you have to be a very honest and brave person in terms of saying the brave things that need to be said."

In any case, Jones, 59, an activist with the Providence Newspaper Guild, became the go-to guy when other scribes were unwilling to talk on the record about life on Fountain Street. As a reporter who was going out and asking people about important things, "I was almost obligated not to have a double-standard," he says, particularly because of the importance of the role that the Journal plays in Rhode Island.

In 1997, Jones, who had bought Journal Company stock to be able to address a shareholders' meeting, described the sale of the Journal to the Dallas-based Belo Corporation as "a tragedy." "It is wrong because when the paper loses its local control and community roots, it will not have the same connection, the same intensity, the same willingness to take risks and to spend money, which are important ingredients in excellent local journalism," he said at the time.

The warning proved prophetic. Relations between Journal management and the Guild have become poisoned during a lengthy contract dispute, with union members accusing Belo-backed managers of trying to destroy the union. Among other woes, a trend toward self-censorship has worsened since Belo acquired the paper, and dozens of staffers have departed in the last two years.

The buyout, which was offered to 79 Guild members and 87 other employees, has sunk morale to new depths and exacerbated concerns that the Journal's quality as a medium-sized daily is eroding (see "Bad to worse on Fountain Street," This just in, October 11). The paper, although still far better than many comparably sized dailies, "is not the rock that it once was," Jones says.

Issue Date: November 23 - 29, 2001