Why did Roanoke Times take a reporter off the health-care beat?

Columbia Journalism Review
In a recent piece on Carilion Health System, the Wall Street Journal reported that “the Roanoke Times moved [reporter Jeff] Sturgeon off the health-care beat after Carilion complained repeatedly about his coverage.” CJR’s Dean Starkman has been trying to learn more about this, but Times staffers aren’t talking. He writes: “Here’s the record on Carilion and Sturgeon as it now stands: A hospital complains about a reporter and pulls ads from the paper. The paper reassigns him. The paper — offered three chances — declines to deny that one caused the other when a simple ‘no’ would do.”