Bylines   

Editor Quits for Reporter

The new executive editor of the Register Citizen in Torrington, Connecticut, Elizabeth Healy , quits rather than fire a reporter who had quoted readers expressing disappointment with missed deliveries of that week's first-ever Sunday Register Citizen . Publisher Geoffrey Moser axed reporter Marsden Epworth himself, then two days later insisted that Assistant Editor Dolores Laschever ö who oversees the editorial pages, spike a letter questioning the firing. That prompted Laschever to resign as well, after 15 years on the job. The Register Citizen has yet to carry a word on the controversy, which Epworth says is not surprising given the unwritten policy Moser cited while dismissing her: "Employees are not allowed to write anything critical of the [parent] Journal Register Co." Moser did not return phone messages, and an official at the Trenton, New Jersey-based Journal Register Co., which also owns the New Haven Register (see Bylines, March), declined comment. Andy Thibault , formerly a night editor at the Hartford Courant , succeeds Healy.

Brouhaha in Burlington

Editor Ronald Thornburg leaves Vermont's Burlington Free Press to become a journalism professor at St. Michael's College in the wake of a lawsuit filed by former City Hall reporter Paul Teetor . Thornburg says that although he left shortly after being deposed in Teetor's lawsuit, "there's no connection" between his departure and the legal action. Teetor went to court after being fired for reporting that a white woman had been "escorted" out ofüa forum on race relations and that a black woman had "brandished" a cane. The forum's organizer complained, and the daily responded with a second-day story saying Teetor had "mischaracterized" the incidents. The judge overseeing Teetor's suit recently turned down a request for a gag order from the Gannett-owned daily, saying "this court is being, in effect, requested to prevent newspaper coverage." Meanwhile, Managing Editor udy Diebolt , also named in Teetor's suit, joins Gannett's Detroit News as city editor.

Stripping the Media Culture

Jack Ohman , the 33-year-old wunderkind Oregonian political cartoonist, says he was inspired to create "Mixed Media," his new daily comic strip, after noticing that social commentary in the funnies typically comes from "large-headed animals and dysfunctional families. I wanted to eliminate the middleman." Media pap influences our society to such a point, he says, that "every time my family gets together we talk about stuff in the media culture – 'Did you hear what Rush said yesterday?' – instead of things that happen to us."

Sunday Morning at Home

Charles Kuralt , best known for his whimsical, off-the-beaten-path reports, retires from CBS after 37 years. Kuralt, 59, who became the youngest person ever named a CBS correspondent when he got the job at age 25, spent the past 15 years as anchor of the acclaimed "Sunday Morning." There has been speculation that he leaves partly out of frustration at a decline in the quality of network news; the newsman recently told TV Guide that he is "ashamed that so many [anchors] haven't any basis on which to make a news judgment; [they] can't edit, can't write, can't cover a story." (Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite expresses similiar concerns beginning on page 34.) But Kuralt insists that he's leaving solely because he wants "to be free to do whatever I want to do," which includes a nostalgic one-year trip around the country.

Inside Magazines

Ann Morrison departs from Fortune , where she was executive editor, to become editor of the Hong Kong-based siaWeek . She replaces founder Michael O'Neill , who sold an 85 percent stake to Time Inc. in 1985 and was ousted in February... New York snags media reporter Jon Katz away from Rolling Stone . Katz succeeds

Edwin Diamond , now a visiting fellow at Northwestern University's Annenberg Washington Program.

Whittling Down

Special Reports Network , a series of videos, magazines and brochures distributed to 30,000 doctors' waiting rooms by Whittle Communications , dies after six years. Nearly 150 staffers lose their jobs.

Inside Newspapers

We reported last month that Gail Bronson , the former managing editor at Bloomberg Business News , had joined the Chicago Sun-Times as business editor. As it turns out, her Sun-Times career was brief, and she's now looking for work. "One top executive told me specifically they wouldn't be selling the paper to any 'bad types' like a Conrad Black ," she explains, but then Black did buy the daily, and Bronson's attempts to renegotiate her contract with the new owner fell apart. Fred Lebolt , managing editor of Black's Financial Post , gets the job instead... Steve Hannah , the former Milwaukee Journal executive editor who left the daily last year soon after new Editor Mary Jo Meisner arrived, launches a self-syndicated weekly column covering Wisconsin personalities and news. Hannah, who also works as a corporate consultant, has six clients so far, including Madison's Capital Times ... The Star Tribune in Minneapolis names Pam Fine as newsroom leader (i.e. managing editor). She leaves the Atlanta Journal and Constitution ... The Orange County Register names James Grimaldi as Washington bureau chief... The Los Angeles Times Magazine hires Kit Rachlis , formerly editor of L.A. Weekly , as senior editor... Ken Parish Perkins , most recently with the Dallas Morning News , joins the Chicago Tribune as TV critic. He succeeds Rick Kogan now "Tempo" editor. The New York Post, meanwhile, taps John Podhoretz , the former Washington Times features editor and one-time Reagan speechwriter, as its TV critic... Karen Durbin becomes editor of the Village Voice . A Voice staffer for 15 years before leaving for Mirabella in 1990, she takes over for Jonathan Larsen ... Former San Francisco Examiner Executive Editor Larry Kramer joins Data Broadcasting , which delivers info over hand-held monitors, as vice president for sports and news.... iCE , a free weekly purchased in 1992 by the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel , publishes its last issue (see Free Press, June 1993).

Around the Dial

Court TV signs a deal to coproduce two dozen segments for "Dateline NBC."... Michael Linder j creator and executive producer of Fox's "America's Most Wanted," joins Los Angeles' appropriately named KCOP-TV [as executive producer... A judge dismisses a $3.25 million lawsuit filed against Atlanta's WXIA by former reporter Dean Phillips " who had been fired after signing a contract with a Hollywood production firm over a murder case he was covering (see Bylines, October 1993)... The BBC names Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards , the nearsighted ski jumper famous for his antics during the 1988 Olympics, as host of a weekly program, "And Now the Good News," on Radio 5 Live. The show features only cheerful news... Columnist Dick Williams , who was news director at Atlanta's WXIA for two years before joining the tlanta Journal and Constitution in 1979, returns to television as news director of the city's WATL .