Rob Curley’s suspension in August did not end the turmoil at The Spokesman Review. It set up the next blow: a lengthy investigation by RANGE Media and Investigate West that detailed fresh allegations against the suspended editor in chief, just as the newsroom’s own staff had already voted no confidence in him.
The investigation put in one place the accusations that had shadowed Curley for years. Newsroom employees said he compromised editorial independence, relied on nepotistic hiring, lied about reporters being paid with community donations, retaliated against critics and ran the paper through cronyism. They also accused him of bringing in a personally loyal but disorganized and unproductive editor who, they said, often shopped online for magician supplies while in the office.
That kind of public record matters because Curley was not a new target of criticism. He had long kept the backing of one of Spokane’s richest families, which owns the paper, and that support helped him survive previous disputes that might have ended other editors’ tenures. The latest allegations, though, go beyond personality clashes. They speak directly to whether the newsroom can trust the chain of command over the paper’s reporting, hiring and internal judgment.
For staff, the no-confidence vote was the clearest sign that the conflict had moved from private frustration to open revolt. For readers, the question is what the owner family does now with a suspended editor whose leadership has been challenged in public, in print and from inside the newsroom itself. The next decision will show whether The Spokesman Review treats the allegations as a personnel problem or as a breakdown in the paper’s independence.
