October 2002, News Briefs |
ACM adds 2 more papers
DALLAS — American Consolidated Media, Inc. (ACM) this month purchased the assets of the Ellis County Chronicle in Red Oak and the Italy News-Herald.
Alan E. and Judy Gell sold the two weeklies to the Dallas-based newspaper group. The couple had owned the newspapers for 16 years and began with a small photo-copied newspaper called the Community Bulletin.
Neal White was named publisher and editor and Connie Poirier will be general manager. Ron Johnson will oversee the ad department. Leanne Brindle will become community and education editor.
Buffalo changes hands
BUFFALO — Chap Harriman purchased the Buffalo Press last month from Holly Rogers. Most recently he was owner and publisher of the Hearne Democrat, Franklin Advocate and Calvert Tribune, which he sold last spring. Harriman will be publisher and ad director and Sherald Wood will remain as editor.
Stinnett closes down
STINNETT — The Stinnett Post closed down in September after eight years in Hutchinson County. The weekly was founded in 1995 and was owned and operated by Pam and Billie Barker. The newspaper reported a paid circulation of 238 last year.
Hereford prints off-site after electrical problem
HEREFORD — An electrical problem caused the Hereford Brand presses to stop working Aug. 27 so the crew scrambled and got a hand from the Borger News-Herald and the Affiliated Foods print shop in Amarillo.
“You truly have to love the people in this business. They all have their very own daily nightmares to deal with, but they are always willing to help,” publisher Mauri Montgomery said.
The newspaper spent hours laboring to install a new press unit and other equipment to be able to print four-color but the electrical circuitry went out.
The press went down Aug. 27 and was back up on Aug. 30.
Daily reclaims name for Internet site
FORT WORTH — The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Sept. 24 changed its Web site name back to Star-Telegram.com.
The newspaper’s Web site had operated under DFW.com since January as parent company Knight Ridder tried to create regional portals to support its newspapers across the country, the daily reported.
Users still will have access to DFW.com classifieds and home and car listings. They will not notice changes to the layout other than easier navigation.
Food photo cooks up copyright, free press debate
SAN ANTONIO — It can happen at the big newspapers too.
A Republican-led committee pushing for judicial reform lifted a year-old photo from a food article in the San Antonio Express-News to reprint on brochures questioning a local attorney’s political influence.
The photo, which the committee did not obtain prior written permission to use, shows several lawyers and local Democratic Party leaders dining in the River Walk offices of lawyer Pat Maloney. It ran in September 2001 to illustrate a food section story about chefs employed by local businesses.
The political flier carries the headline “Will you let a small group of trial lawyers buy four judgeships?” and points out how much each candidate depicted has received from the Maloneys.
The Express-News found no record that the Committee for Judicial Reform had purchased a reprint and even if it had newspaper policy prohibits reprints from being used for political purposes.
The committee told the Express-News that use of the photo was “protected free speech about a political matter.”
The Express-News lawyers contacted the committee to demand its members cease distribution of the flier.
“… lifting a copyrighted photograph from the feature pages of the Express-News and presenting it to voters as evidence of Maloney buying judgeships is neither fair nor ethical,” editor Robert Rivard wrote in his Sept. 22 column.
AP dismisses reporter after sources remain unverified
WASHINGTON — The Associated Press dismissed a reporter after failing to confirm the existence of people quoted by name in a number of his stories, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
AP reviewed stories by Washington reporter Christopher Newton, who started his career in Texas, after receiving inquiries about two experts he quoted in a Sept. 8 piece about crime statistics.
Editors then found a number of additional stories quoting people whose existence could not be verified.
An AP spokesman said Newton maintains that the sources are real and were accurately quoted.
Newton started with AP in Houston in 1994 and was an intern in Dallas in the summer of 1995. He joined the Dallas staff in 1996 after graduating from Texas Christian University.
AP Stylebook online
The Associated Press is offering annual site licenses for online access to the AP Stylebook. To order log onto www.apbookstore.com.
Women journalists get ‘stamp’ of approval
FORT WORTH — What better place to unveil four new U.S. Postal Service stamps honoring women journalists than the national convention of Society of Professional Journalists here in September.
The four women are Nelli Bly, Marguerite Higgins, Ethel L. Payne and Ida N. Tarbell. The 37-cent stamps are available at post offices nationwide.
In 1887, Bly pretended to be insane to gain access to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum in New York to expose poor treatment of patients.
Higgins, a correspondent during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting.
Payne, the first black female commentator on a national network, covered the civil rights movement.
Tarbell was known for reporting on the accumulation of wealth by John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil Co.
SPJ met Sept. 12-14 and White House correspondent Helen Thomas was on hand to help unveil the first-class stamps.