Two Stranger Reporters Put on Leave for Investigation Into Possible Ethical Violations

The investigation involves whether the reporters lied about a former editor's alleged inappropriate encounter with a candidate for city council.

By Erica C. Barnett

Two reporters from the Stranger—Ashley Nerbovig and Hannah Krieg—have been put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations that they behaved unethically by failing to disclose and lying about an ethical breach by former Stranger editor Rich Smith.

Full disclosure: I worked at the Stranger from 2003 to 2009.

The investigation stems from a story that has been circulating in Seattle political circles since last year: Smith, who was then the Stranger's news editor and the head of its endorsement board, had a one-time sexual encounter with Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who was then a candidate for Seattle City Council. Rinck was elected in a landslide last November.

In an email to staff yesterday, Rob Crocker, the chief financial officer of the Stranger's parent company, Noisy Creek, announced that Nerbovig and Krieg had "been placed on paid leave," and that both "are prohibited from representing themselves as employees of Noisy Creek or any of its properties. Their access to company information and communications is also suspended."

The sternly worded email nods to the fact that Stranger reporters are now represented by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild, which is reportedly defending them against the allegations."In the interests of fairness to Hannah, Ashley, and all other members of Noisy Creek, we need to undertake an internal investigation, which we hope to resolve quickly," Crocker wrote. "We have contacted the Noisy Union and will be coordinating with them,."

Hannah Murphy Winter, who replaced Smith as editor of the Stranger last July, told PubliCola, "I can’t speak to the nature of the investigation until it’s been completed," but noted that "the allegations are serious."

Smith was fired late last October for reasons unrelated to the incident with Rinck. "We weren’t aware of Rich’s alleged conduct at the time he was let go," Murphy Winter said.

According to sources, the investigation that's happening now concerns whether Nerbovig and Krieg failed to disclose that they knew about the incident and whether, once they were asked about it by management, falsely claimed they just learned about it recently and attempted to convince people associated with Rinck to support their cover story. There's no evidence that anyone in Rinck's circle agreed to lie on the reporters' behalf, and the investigation, which Murphy Winter said would be "quick," is reportedly intended to determine whether the allegations against the two reporters are true.

Smith and Rinck declined to comment. PubliCola sent questions to Nerbovig and Krieg and received a response from Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild representative Courtney Scott, which read: "Due to the ongoing investigation regarding Hannah Krieg and Ashley Nerbovig we have advised them not to respond to these questions. The Noisy Creek Union and The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild are cooperating with The Stranger’s management team in the investigation and have no other comments at this time."

It's obviously unethical for a reporter or editor to have intimate contact or a romantic relationship with a candidate or elected official the paper covers, because it creates a conflict of interest that calls the publication's integrity into question. Any news staffer in that situation would be obligated, at the very least, to immediately tell their supervisor and stop covering that person or participating in editorial decisions that involve them, including not just endorsements but daily coverage and story assignments.

Murphy Winter replaced Smith as editor of the Stranger after Noisy Creek—a new venture started by former Grist editor and 2016 Congressional candidate Brady Walkinshaw—bought the paper last July. At that time, Smith returned to his former position as news editor, and was fired from that position three months later.

While Murphy Winter couldn't confirm any details about the investigation, she did note that the Stranger has "an employee code of conduct that we expect our employees to adhere to," and that lying about or covering up an inappropriate relationship or incident "would very clearly fall into the terms of that code."

There may be knee-jerk condemnations of Rinck for fooling around with the news editor of a publication that gave her their endorsement. But by all accounts, the Stranger had already endorsed Rinck, a progressive, before the incident took place—and her opponent was appointed council incumbent Tanya Woo, whom the Stranger called "[o]ne of the dimmer bulbs in the council’s already flickering chandelier, [who] evinces zero capacity for discussing complex legislation, no will to put forth any major legislation of her own, and otherwise displays total fealty to the corporate class." (Thesaurus much?)

That said, the incident reflects poor judgment on both sides. For Rinck, who was running for office, it was clearly a lapse in judgment, of the sort that male politicians tend to get away with unscathed. For Smith, it appears to have been an ongoing ethical violation, since he did not disclose the incident to his bosses after it happened.

Smith did, however, reportedly tell Nerbovig and Krieg several months ago. The two did not disclose what they knew to management until earlier this month, when they said they had just learned about the incident for the first time last week. Apparently, in one version, I was the source of the rumor: Someone who overheard me blabbing about it while out drinking with a group of journalists told them what I said. This did not happen.