April 28, 2019 - 7:07 am
Corporate Subsidies,
Corruption, Ethics, Media,
Sports
By Jim Bleyer
Jeff Vinik, through Tampa
Bay Sports and Entertainment LLC, owns the major interest in the Tampa Bay
Times, according to corporate records obtained by Tampa Bay Beat from
Bloomberg, the world’s primary distributor of financial data.
It accounts for the Times’
sheer, unfettered promotion of all Vinik enterprises including the Tampa Bay
Lightning hockey team, obfuscation of his role in meddling with Tampa’s
Museum of Science and Industry, and the deliberate withholding of facts
surrounding the new one percent sales tax for transit in Hillsborough County—a
gargantuan financial windfall for Vinik.
The Times building in downtown St. Petersburg
Those are merely the
lowlights by the Times’ unreported or underreported Vinik misadventures since
he arrived in Tampa nine years ago.
Bloomberg’s company profile
of Vinik’s Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment LLC lists 490 1st Ave. S., St.
Petersburg as its address. On that property is the eight-story Tampa Bay
Times building. Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment does not maintain its
offices there.
Brittany Tefteller, manager
for Lincoln Property Company who owns the building, told Tampa Bay Beat that
the Times occupies four floors and there are two other tenants, neither of
which is Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment. Several thousand square
feet not only remain vacant but the future of one of the current tenants is
murky.
The Penny Hoarder,
announced layoffs last month. A finance publication geared to
Millennials, the Penny Hoarder received state incentives in 2018 to
create 165 positions by 2020. It is not close to that number while the staff
dwindles.
The space occupied by the
Penny Hoarder will either diminish or disappear.
And the telephone number
listed for TBSE? It is the main number of the Times. Callers are
directed to advertising, home delivery, news and human resources. The
hockey team and Vinik aren’t options.
TBSE’s line of
business “includes publishing newspapers,” according to Bloomberg.
Nothing else.
Tampa Bay residents have
been under the impression that Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment included
owning the Lightning, booking events at Amalie Arena, and operating
concessions—not publishing newspapers.
(Vinik’s Strategic Property
Partners is the company developing Water Street Tampa in the city’s Channelside
district.)
Bloomberg rates as the
foremost gatherer of business data and analytics in the world.
The Vinik-Times quid pro
quo relationship and deception could prick the ears of the Internal Revenue
Service, professional newspaper organizations, and law enforcement authorities.
Subterfuge and lack of
ethics by the Times regarding its ownership has been stunning. One would
expect a former hedge fund manager such as Vinik, to bob, weave, fudge, and
practice deceit. Newspapers are perceived as more trustworthy entities.
The Society of Professional
Journalists Code of Ethics includes:
— Avoid conflicts of interest,
real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations
that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Disclose unavoidable
conflicts.
— Be vigilant and courageous
about holding those with power accountable.
— Distinguish between advocacy
and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not
misrepresent fact or context.
— Recognize a special
obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and
that government records are open to inspection.
The Times’ lack of
adherence to the SPJ code amounts to a monumental fail.
Just exactly how long Vinik
has been calling the shots at the Times is unclear. Publisher Paul Tash
announced on June 30, 2016 that 10 to 12 wealthy business people poured $1.5
million each into the financially-troubled paper. Tash called them
“investors” without revealing all their names including Vinik’s.
Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment is nowhere to be found.
Vinik’s connection surfaced
only a month later when La Gaceta, the tri-lingual newspaper published in Ybor
City, was ready to go public with the names of more investors. Vinik
pre-empted the revelation with his own disclosure.
Since then, Tash and the
Times have been operating in a cone of silence regarding the ownership shuffle.
And the Times coverage of
Vinik’s enterprises? The paper twists facts to accommodate Vinik and his
investments. His shady practices in Boston as a fund manager and Tampa as
a developer have gone unreported.
Despite
buying favorable news coverage from one news entity, Vinik invested in a dying
industry. In
2016, the Pew Research Center found that only 5 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds
and 10 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds often get news from print newspapers,
compared to 48 percent of the 65-and-over demographic.
Digital news sites are
winning. They provide multiple news sources, including video, and a
compressed time frame for GenXers and younger.
When the smoke finally
clears and the Times goes completely digital, Vinik can might earn an
environmental award for saving so many trees.
(Tom Rask, publisher of the
Tampa Bay Guardian, contributed to this article)
Tampa Bay Beat article from February:
Cross Posted
with permission from: Tampa Bay Beat
This post is
contributed by Tampa Bay Beat. The views and opinions expressed in this post
are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Bay Post Internet or
the publisher.
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