Salt Lake Tribune Editor James "Jay" Shelledy resigned his post Thursday afternoon as the fallout continued from a controversy that began Sunday after he revealed that two of his reporters fed false and sensational information about Elizabeth Smart's family to the National Enquirer for $20,000.
Shelledy went to the office Thursday and asked his boss, publisher Dean Singleton, to read what he called his "final" weekly column.
"He makes a valid point that after 12 years, it's probably good to change the filter on the car," said Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group., which owns the Tribune. Singleton, who is based in Denver, had canceled meetings and flew to Salt Lake City Wednesday to address concerns about the paper's operations and credibility.
Shelledy's decision was but one in a chain of events Thursday in a scandal that has turned the public eye on the subject of media ethics, police conduct and the Smart family's privacy. Also Thursday:
Singleton met privately with Smart family members and, on behalf of the Tribune, apologized for the paper's involvement in a July 2 National Enquirer article, the lurid details of which were retracted this week.
Randy Dryer, an attorney retained by the Smart family to track down leaks to the Enquirer and others, scheduled a Friday news conference to announce the latest developments in his investigation.
The Fox TV network announced Elizabeth would perform two harp selections on a Friday edition of "The John Walsh Show," a syndicated program hosted by the anti-crime activist best known for "America's Most Wanted." Elizabeth does not talk on the program, but her parents, Ed and Lois Smart, are interviewed about AMBER Alert legislation signed Wednesday by President Bush. Ed, Lois and Elizabeth were present in the White House Rose Garden for the ceremony.
And Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, in an extended memo, restated his concern about leaks coming from the Salt Lake City Police Department. He said he has been made aware of "horrific" examples in which the police mishandled information.
Newsroom turmoil
A week ago, Shelledy first told Singleton about a column for Sunday, April 27, in which he would publicly chastise the behavior of reporters Michael Vigh and Kevin Cantera, who told him they had given tips and a little background to the Enquirer for what turned out to be a sensational story about alleged sexual activities of Ed Smart and his brothers.
One week later, a tearful Shelledy stood before his staff Thursday as Singleton announced his resignation after serving as the Tribune's editor for more than a dozen years.
In a six-day span, it had been learned that the tabloid paid Vigh and Cantera $10,000 each, that they had lied to Shelledy, and that they had actually provided and verified the tabloid story's sensational details.
The National Enquirer had agreements made between Cantera, Vigh and an Enquirer correspondent on tape and could prove their involvement. Shelledy had essentially slapped their hands, and many on his staff were furious. In addition, the tabloid threatened to sue Shelledy for "false and defamatory" statement for comments made in his Sunday column.
In a statement released Thursday, Shelledy said, "It has become clear to me and the publisher that it will take a new editor to bring an end to the newsroom contention over what will forever be known as the Enquirer affair.
"I am tired; we both see needs for new direction."
After Thursday's newsroom meeting, the Associated Press reported some staffers cried and lined up to shake Shelledy's hand.
Shelledy came to the Tribune as editor in 1990 after working as a reporter, editor and publisher at such wire services and newspapers as the Associated Press, the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash.; and Idaho's Idahonian (now the Moscow-Pullman Daily News) and the Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Singleton announced that Bill Long, a MediaNews executive, will serve as the newspaper's interim editor. Singleton said he, too, plans to stay in Salt Lake City for the time being.
The publisher spent Thursday meeting with community leaders, editors and members of his newsroom staff.
"We're trying to get our arms around this," he told the Deseret News late Thursday.
He also said he spent 30 minutes in a private meeting with members of the Smart family at one of their homes.
"I just wanted to personally apologize to them," he said. "The two reporters who worked for the Trib, without our knowledge, did something very hurtful."
The mayor's memo
Meanwhile, another chapter on the subject of the Smart family's privacy will open Friday at a news conference announced by Dryer, a First Amendment attorney in Salt Lake City.
The focus of his investigation into sensational leaks and rumors about the much-publicized Smart kidnapping case seems to be turning toward law enforcement officers who had inside knowledge of the case.
And at City Hall, Salt Lake City's mayor said he, too, intends to get to the bottom of the leaks.
On Wednesday Anderson sent a 18-page memo to Police Chief Rick Dinse.
"Many people seem to have heard about information and rumors and the most malicious, salacious false kinds of gossip about the Smart family . . . (information) the source of which is often said to be Salt Lake City police investigators," Anderson wrote,
"I have asked you to thoroughly investigate this rather than rely on me to pass all such information on to you. I have not yet received from you any information about any such investigation."
The memo asks Dinse to address three principal questions by May 19:
Why leaks still seem to be coming out of the department.
Why Dinse and other top department officials gave the media incorrect information. This includes statements that the Smarts waited too long to call the police on the day of Elizabeth's kidnapping, as well as implications that family members might be suspects.
"Giving the public the impression that Ed and Lois did not call the police (in a timely fashion) and that they allowed people to come into their home and trample all over the crime scene before the police arrived unfairly cast suspicions upon the Smarts. Especially Ed," Anderson wrote.
And the mayor wants to know why police didn't better follow up on leads about "Emmanuel," a name used by Brian David Mitchell, the man now in custody for Elizabeth's kidnapping.
Anderson reiterated Thursday that he is still hearing about leaks.
"What I'm hearing is pretty horrific in terms of the sorts of damaging information that can be and has been absolutely devastating to members of the Smart family," he said.
Community reaction
Around the community, Shelledy's resignation generated response from public and private officials and from those who had worked closely with the editor.
Salt Lake City's mayor, for one, spoke highly of Shelledy.
"He played a huge role in this community," Anderson said. "I had both a good personal and professional relationship with Mr. Shelledy, and we'll miss him as editor of the Salt Lake Tribune."
Bruce L. Olsen, managing director of Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, "While we had our differences" with the aggressive editor, "we enjoyed a cordial and constructive relationship with Jay Shelledy. We wish him well."
Connie Coyne, the Tribune's reader advocate, spoke on behalf of many of the paper's employees.
"Staff at the Salt Lake Tribune, many of whom have worked with Jay Shelledy since he came here 12 years ago, are very sad that Jay resigned," she said. "Many . . . felt they have taken an emotional body blow this past week.
"We have tried through our shock and sense of betrayal to continue to serve our readers," she added. "We are embarrassed by the actions of our two former staff members, but we are adults and we will move on."
Vigh — one of the fired reporters — said he had mixed feelings about the editor's resignation. Vigh said he had worked for Shelledy for five years, having been hired in as a police reporter from the Tooele Transcript Bulletin.
"I love the guy," he said. "He's always been good to me, and he's been fair with with me. He's always been a person that I could go to and talk to about different things in my life," said Vigh. "I called him 'Uncle Jay.' So from that perspective, I don't want him to go through this, but I feel like he did the wrong thing when, two weeks ago, I went to him and said, 'I've done something wrong, let me resign.' "
Vigh said he and Cantera "literally begged" Shelledy and other editors to assign a Tribune reporter to the story. Vigh said he and Cantera felt that through a story they could express their regret for having dealt with the Enquirer and that it might have have "stopped some of the embarrassment."
"(Shelledy) said we weren't as big as we thought, and it wasn't going to be that big of a story," said Vigh.
Vigh said he didn't necessarily agree that the paper needs new leadership in order to recover.
"If that's (Shelledy's) opinion, that's fine, but there are a lot of people who wanted (Shelledy) gone, and they are using this as the opportunity to push him out the door," Vigh said.
Contributing: Brady Snyder and Jennifer Dobner, Deseret News; Associated Press
E-mail: lucy@desnews.com