Tribune's Coverage of Benefis Fiasco

First of all, Dona, yes, I did scoop the Tribune. Thanks for noticing.

Second, I don't know what it is with the Tribune's reporters. Are they afraid to piss off the big employers like the City, Benefis, or Wal-Mart?

Because I like Paula Wilmot as a reporter, but couldn't she have gone a lot farther with her story yesterday about Benefis' attempts to shed community and charitable controls?

First of all, the headline (which I know Ms. Wilmot didn't write) said: "Benefis weighs split with Providence." No they don't. They're not weighing anything. They have "asked" to end their affiliation.

Clearly the hospital's administrators had a contingency plan if their intentions where discovered before they wanted them to be discovered. And clearly that plan included obfuscating and hedging..."oh, it's not a done deal." But in the hospital's mind it is a done deal, and Ms. Wilmot had the documents that said as much. So why does she let them spin her?

Then John Goodnow, Benefis CEO, says the hospital will explain everything "when the time is right." When is that? When it's a done deal? Should the report ask when the time is right?

When asked why it's been kept quiet until now, Goodnow said "'because there has been no reason to talk about it.' It's a no-win situation, he added." Well, sure there's a reason to talk about it. It's our community hospital. I think we want to know their plans, especially if they are forging ahead into a "no-win situation."

No offense, Paula, but you can do better. Push these people, get excited, make them answer you. Bring your intellect to the game.