Tuesday, April 07, 2009
How to get Tara Connell to return your phone calls
This tip also works for getting return calls from former USA Today editor Ken Paulson and other theoretically busy media professionals.
10 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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I'd like to see Connell devote the same energy to answering questions from, say, Tucson Citizen reporters as she does to questions from college students who know powerful people.
ReplyDeleteYou don't fool me, Connell -- and you don't fool anyone else, either.
I hope Dani Neuharth-Keusch has a long and solid career in journalism. I wish her well, and hope that she doesn't become the issue. She can't help who her father is.
ReplyDeleteI also don't wish to denigrate collegiate journalism. Student-run newspapers are excellent training grounds and some do really good journalism.
But Tara Connell surely has better things to do with her time than call back student reporters. Even those with the last name of Neuharth. Take the five minutes you spent on that interview and try explaining ContentOne to your employees, Ms. Connell. That'd be an efficient use of resources, for starters.
Addendum to my post at 9:47: A thought, from a journalism ethics standpoint. Shouldn't there have been some sort of disclaimer on the article explaining her relationship to the founder of USA Today and the former Gannett CEO?
ReplyDeleteMy apologies: My post at 9:47 should have read "grandfather," not "father."
ReplyDeleteIf Ms. Neuharth-Keusch is indeed related to Al, then the Cornell paper should put an editor's note in the story to disclose that. It's a nice story, yes. But in addition to good reporting practices, student journalists also need to learn the rules of ethics. Otherwise, it looks as if this young reporter scored a coup, when it really could have been as simple as pressure from her influential relative toward the Gannett bigwigs to call her back. I'm not saying that's what happened. But full disclosure, even in student papers, is necessary.
ReplyDeleteThey are related: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/05/relax-seniors-y.html.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, 10:31 am, I knew about the family connection only because the author's grandfather made it public, in that USA Today column.
ReplyDeleteI removed the following comment earlier today because of concerns about privacy. The author originally posted it at 9:14 am ET. With the author's permission, I'm now re-posting it:
ReplyDeleteLiza Koon has left a new comment on your post "How to get Tara Connell to return your phone calls...":
yes, that byline commands a second look, doesn't it?
Absolutely disgusting behavior. "no drastic changes?" as if having the earliest deadline in BIE isn't drastic. As if surrendering local control of Features isn't just drastic. (it's also stupid, for the Ithaca market...
ReplyDeleteDisgusting.
Everyone should also note this story was a worldwide exclusive (LOL). Not a word sent out to the community about any of the changes. Maybe they will release the news through the Cornell Daily Sun soon.
ReplyDelete