Management at The Providence Journal is moving Katherine Gregg, a tenacious watchdog on Smith Hill for more than 30 years, out of the Statehouse, RIPR has learned from multiple sources.
Gregg, the longtime chief of the Journal’s bureau in the Statehouse basement, will instead be assigned to the newspaper’s downtown Providence newsroom on Fountain Street.
Although the reason for the change is unclear, sources tell RIPR tension increased between Gregg and newsroom managers in the time after GateHouse Media acquired the ProJo in 2014. It’s also not known if the reassignment away from the Statehouse may be temporary, and if Gregg will accept the reassignment.
Gregg, who is vacationing on Block Island, declined to comment. ProJo executive editor Dave Butler also declined comment. (Update from August 4: Butler now says Gregg may return to the Statehouse beat.)
Still, considering Gregg’s attributes — including a formidable work ethic, a comprehensive knowledge of state government, an array of sources, and a profile as one of the Journal’s best-known reporters — the change is causing head-scratching and disbelief across Rhode Island’s political and media communities.
Gregg is considered perhaps the most dogged reporter in Rhode Island. She has scored a multitude of scoops, and exposed corruption in state government.
“Kathy Gregg is as much of an institution in Rhode Island politics as you’re going to get,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island, the good government group.
Marion recalled being told of the existence of “the Katherine Gregg Rule” in the state Department of Administration building across the street from the Statehouse: “If you think Katherine Gregg is going to walk by your desk and see something that she could write a story about, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”
“That speaks to how important Kathy is in terms of accountability,” Marion said. “Her institutional memory is unsurpassed and losing that would be a big blow to holding power accountable at the Statehouse.”
Gregg has a reputation among the state’s leading politicians as tough, but fair. Even her critics concede more bad things would happen if she was absent from the Statehouse.
“This is a sad day for journalism in Rhode Island,” House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said in a statement. “Katherine Gregg has a long and distinguished career as a State House reporter and she did a tremendous job in keeping the public informed of what is happening in their government. I always found her to be tough, but fair, and she had the ability to succinctly get to the heart of the story and accurately portray the facts. Kathy had the admiration and respect of everyone she worked with at the State House.”
Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed pointed to the strength of Gregg’s institutional memory, adding, “Her questioning is tough but fair, and her tenacity is legendary. She has earned the respect of those of us she has covered over the years.”
Reassigning Gregg is one of the many moves made by new management at the ProJo since GateHouse Media completed its purchase of the paper in September 2014. There has also been a series of cost-cutting moves, including layoffs and buy outs. Impending word of Gregg’s departure from the Statehouse started spreading late last week.
A native New Yorker, Gregg worked in Vermont before coming to the Providence Journal. She started working the Statehouse beat in the mid-’80s — not long before a host of legislative conflicts played a big role in the state credit union crisis. Gregg also carved a niche writing about pensions.
As former Common Cause of Rhode Island head H. Philip West Jr. writes in his history of recent Rhode Island politics, “Secrets and Scandals,” in the early ’90s, Gregg wrote “Set for Life — Special Deals,” “a barrage of twelve blockbuster stories that ran in succession … far too quickly for those whose cover she blew to sue the paper. She listed insiders who had bought pension credits at fire sale prices. Most had relied on special bills that allowed them credits for years on the payrolls of unions, private companies, and even governments in other states.”
West wrote that Gregg’s reporting on public corruption resulted in retirement files for public employees being made into public records.
As an old-school and fiercely competitive reporter, Gregg has adapted to new media trends, becoming an adept user of Twitter.
She’s worked with so many other ProJo reporters on Smith Hill over the years that the Statehouse beat is informally known as “The Katherine Gregg School of Journalism.”
This story has been updated.
