Rendell Denies Killing News Stories

PHILADELPHIA - Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said on Monday he had nothing to do with Philadelphia Media Network allegedly deleting stories related to his group's possible acquisition of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

He also said he would probably be chairman of the board of Philadelphia Media Network if his group succeeds in buying the company.

Rendell appeared on a radio interview show with author Buzz Bissinger on Monday, a day after he told a Daily News reporter he would "rather be waterboarded" than talk about his group's bid for the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com.

"I didn't sign on to be Bain Capital," Rendell told Bissinger, the former local columnist who wrote a blistering editorial about the Rendell group's bid amid claims of censorship by newspaper management to appease the Rendell group.

Philadelphia Media has denied that it censored coverage of the Rendell group, but nearly 300 journalists at the newspapers and Philly.com signed a public petition condemning the alleged censorship.

Rendell said his group had no involvement with current editorial decisions at the newspapers, and he might put an editorial board in place if his group ran the business.

"No one in our group knew anything about it," Rendell said.

"If we did get control of the paper, we would listen to suggestions or maybe have an outside group rule on things," Rendell said, who believed his group would listen to ideas about a "firewall" between management and the newsroom.

Rendell also said his primary motive was to put together a group to keep the newspapers in local hands.

"We want to legitimately save these newspapers," Rendell said.

Rendell did acknowledge that newspaper owners have a tradition of approving editorials and spoke about publishers like Rupert Murdoch and Katherine Graham.

But he said the group's motivation was to keep newspapers alive and jobs in the area.

"No good deed goes unpunished … The motive was to do a good thing for the community," he said.

Rendell is a nonequity partner in the group that included several prominent Democrats. He is a former Philadelphia mayor and a national Democratic party leader.

The prospect of a Rendell-led turnover led to national media coverage that grew after the alleged censorship incident that involved killing a story about a competitive bid and a mention of the potential current value of Philadelphia Media.