Free Press Lets Go Of Its Wang

By Kleinheider Posted on March 24, 2009 at 11:56 pm

Bad news in the Tennessee media world today as Post Politics has learned that workhorse Washington, DC correspondent Herman Wang has been let go today from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

A graduate of both Northwestern’s undergraduate environmental science program as well as the Medill School of Journalism, Wang covered county government in Jacksonville, North Carolina for the Daily News and city government for the Times Free Press before taking the assignment covering Tennessee and Georgia’s representatives in the nation’s capital.

Apart from his journalism, Wang is probably best known as the reporter who surreptitiously emailed Sen. Alexander’s then press secretary Lee Pitts while restrained in the middle of an apparent home invasion robbery prompting the Alexander aide to have police dispatched to his DC residence.

UPDATE: Joe Lance reports that four Free Pressers in total were given the sack. The paper’s tweeter says that an explanation is forthcoming.

permalink | 9 Comments

Tags: Chattanooga Free Press, Herman Wang, layoffs, Lee Pitts, media layoffs  

Tennessee’s Four Major Dailies Sharing Content And Coordinating Coverage

By Kleinheider Posted on March 8, 2009 at 9:13 pm

Editor & Publisher has posted a memo from Knoxville News Sentinel editor Jack McElroy which outlines a loose agreement by Tennessee’s four major daily papers, The Chattanooga Times-Free Press, the Nashville Tennessean, The Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Sentinel to share content.

The agreement, which began Wednesday of last week, would allow any of the four papers to use any story already published in one of the other papers in full in their print products. Online, however, only a headline and a snippet can be used with a link back to the original story.

According to the memo all stories “should be fully credited to the originating newspaper, with bylines naming writers and newspaper and shirttails or taglines telling how to contact writers.”

Coordination between editorial staffs is also discussed in the memo with each paper designating a “point editor” to coordinate with other papers. Further, individual subject editors are encouraged in the memo to work with their counterparts in the other organizations to exchange story budgets and communicate upcoming story ideas.

In order to share files, photos, etc. a common FTP site “may be established” according to the memo.

This agreement can be seen not only as a cost cutting measure to thin the herd of redundant reporters but also an end run around the Associated Press whose high fees in times of economic decline and industry upheaval have caused many newspaper organizations consternation.

However, the agreement is far from iron clad or even official, as the memo makes clear.

“This is intended to be an informal, handshake deal that any party may terminate at any time. We will endeavor to address any problems that might arise as they come up.”

SEE ALSO:
Enclave
Jack Lail (II)
The Memphis Flyer
MediaVerse
NewsTechZilla
R. Neal
Michael Silence
Grantham Is Talking

permalink | 6 Comments

Tags: Associated Press, Chattanooga Free Press, FTP, Knoxville News Sentinel, media consolidation, Memphis Commercial Appeal, newspapers, sharing content, Tennessean  

It’s Not The Decision Which Was So Much In Question As The Timing Of The Announcement

By Kleinheider Posted on at 5:58 pm

Rep. Lincoln Davis tells Herman Wang that his eschewing a race for governor had nothing to do with who the chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party was and everything to do with which committees he sits on in Congress:

“If I had stayed on Financial Services or Agriculture,” Rep. Davis said, referring to his previous committee assignments, “you would not have had an announcement that I am not running. You probably would have heard from me on March 31 that I am running for governor.”

Rep. Davis, who would have been the presumptive Democratic frontrunner in the 2010 gubernatorial race, said his decision not to run had nothing to do with his opposition to the election of Chip Forrester as Tennessee Democratic Party chairman, as some political observers have speculated.

Rep. Davis was among several prominent Tennessee Democrats, including Gov. Phil Bredesen, who declined to support Mr. Forrester’s bid to head the state party, preferring Charles Robert Bone, whom backers said had a stronger fundraising background.

Rep. Davis made his announcement that he would not be running for governor just days after Mr. Forrester’s selection in January.

But in an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Rep. Davis said the opportunity to serve on one of the most prominent congressional committees was too good to pass up.

PREVIOUSLY: The Chip Factor

permalink | 7 Comments

Tags: 2010 Governor's race, Chattanooga Free Press, Chip Forrester, Herman Wang, Lincoln Davis, TNDP