You know something's up at Freedom Forum when Tara Connell springs into action on her day off

I rarely hear from Gannett's official spokeswoman -- and then, only in response to a very specific question. So, what a surprise it was one day last year when I got an e-mail from Tara Connell, completely unprompted -- and on a Sunday, no less.

Earlier that day, I'd posted under the headline, "Freedom Forum family values, Gannett style." In 2006, I reported, the private foundation had spent $425,545 on wages and expenses for founder Al Neuharth. But it spent only $105,500 on grants for 69 needy Chips Quinn Scholars -- the young minority journalists Freedom Forum says it cares so much about.

The retired Gannett CEO launched Freedom Forum in Washington, D.C., in 1991 with $650 million in Gannett capital handed over under duress by shareholders. The foundation has been run ever since as Neuharth's personal domain, Gannett Blog found in a review of more than 9,000 pages of its annual public reports to the Internal Revenue Service.

2:42 p.m. PT, Sunday, April 6, 2008
At that moment, Connell thought it was urgent for me to know the following: "To my knowledge, there are no current Gannett employees working for the Freedom Forum. To call them Gannett insiders is highly inaccurate."

This was a reference to the lead on that day's post: "Run by a roster of Gannett insiders and political luminaries, Freedom Forum has done more than build a much-discussed $450 million news museum in Washington, D.C."

I told Connell I disagreed, and posted a follow-up the next day, showing all the ways Freedom Forum was stocked with Gannett insiders. And this was way before the most recent example.

(My e-mail exchange with Connell grew more interesting; see the bottom of this post.)

The lady doth protest too much
Fast forward to today, and another unlikely Connell e-mail. But this time it's to a different blogger: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood, who writes on his Bible Belt Blogger:

On New Year’s Eve, I reported that the Freedom Forum, a supposedly non-partisan organization devoted to promoting journalism, is also funding the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. In that post, I said the Freedom Forum "has close ties to the Gannett newspaper chain."

This morning, New Year's Day, I received the following note from Gannett's top spokesperson: "Gannett is an entirely separate entity from the Freedom Forum. We have no say or influence over what they fund. -- Tara Connell, vice president of corporate communications at Gannett."

Such bad blood between The 11th Floor and Freedom Forum!

USAT doesn't have 'say or influence'?
Perhaps Connell forgot that Gannett owns the nation's No. 1 circulation newspaper. Its top editor is Ken Paulson (left), a member of Freedom Forum's governing board of trustees, who will become the foundation's president and chief operating officer on Feb. 1.

And, come to think of it, USA Today really hasn't done a lot of reporting on Freedom Forum during the past year, has it? And that was despite the fact I handed the newspaper and its 450-member newsroom this tip -- followed by a second one, with a key document.

To be sure, there was that story about the Newseum, the one with the very awkward-reading disclosure: "The Newseum, developed and funded by the independent and non-partisan Freedom Forum, has a number of ties to USA TODAY, including a common founder, Al Neuharth. Newseum president Peter Prichard, Newseum executive director Joe Urschel, USA TODAY editor Ken Paulson and a number of Newseum executives have worked for both organizations."

Now, if Connell doesn't like seeing reports of the obvious ties between Gannett and Freedom Forum, maybe she could arrange for Paulson, the Freedom Forum trustee, to sic some investigative reporters on the foundation he's about to help lead. (Or, Connell could assign it herself -- assuming she takes control of some of USAT's reporting staff as part of ContentOne.)

Is Paulson a Gannett insider?
That Sunday afternoon last April, Connell and I debated Freedom Forum Trustee Paulson's status in an e-mail exchange that I forgot until earlier this evening. It began when I wrote the following:

Tara: As you know, Ken Paulson is a senior Gannett employee. I believe he also is a member of the board of trustees of Freedom Forum. Question for you: What role, if any, did Ken Paulson have in Al Neuharth's $425,545 pay package in 2006?

She replied, but evaded my question: "Jim . . . Gannett the company is not connected in any way with the Freedom Forum. Ken is not a Gannett officer and certainly not an insider of the company. I personally don't consider a trustee as someone 'working for' the Freedom Forum. Nevertheless, it is highly misleading to say plural 'Gannett insiders' when you are referring to a single Gannett employee who is a trustee of an unrelated foundation."

We went back and forth some more, until she wrote: "You refer to Gannett insiders -- plural and in present tense. Ken is not a Gannett insider by any definition. So who do you consider a Gannett insider, present tense, who also is an employee or trustee of the Freedom Forum?"

My reply: "I will be delighted to answer that question shortly."

Soon after, I posted my follow-up.

Got an impertinent question for Gannett spokeswoman Connell (left)? Please post it in the comments section, below. You'll be glad you did! To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.