It was a lively news day on the journalism front.
First, there’s The Star’ promotion of two high-profile journalists — Melinda Henneberger, who has been named editorial page editor, and Mara Rose Williams, longtime education reporter, who has been promoted an editorial writer and editorial board member.
Second, there was the strange case of the Des Moines Register reporter being acquitted of misdemeanor charges related to her coverage of a civil protest against racism and police violence.
Henneberger and Williams
These were two excellent moves, in my opinion. Henneberger was one of the top two internal candidates (along with Dave Helling) to succeed Colleen McCain Nelson, who left to become executive editor of The Sacramento Bee.
Henneberger has a fine resume and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize each of the last two years. She is a couple of years younger than Helling, who also would have been a very worthy successor to Nelson, and age may have been a factor in her selection.
I have not been a big fan of Henneberger’s writing style — it’s a bit quirky and flip at times — but she has grown on me. She and Helling have done a good job of prodding Mayor Quinton Lucas (unsuccessfully so far) to stand up to Police Chief Rick Smith and the mostly Republican, mostly state-appointed police board. The fact that she has not given Lucas a pass indicates she will push for what is in the best interests of Kansas City residents.
Star president Mike Fannin’s decision to add Mara Williams to the editorial board is an inspired one. In addition to being a top-level staff writer the last two decades or more, Williams came up with the idea for The Star’s 2020 series investigating its flawed and inadequate coverage of race in Kansas City over the decades.
That Williams came to Kansas City in the first place was a bit of luck. Her late husband, Ceasar Williams, had been hired as an assistant metro editor in 1997, and for a while Mara and their young son remained in Atlanta, where she and Ceasar worked at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I remember overhearing a phone conversation she and Ceasar had one day, when Ceasar was encouraging her to come to join her in Kansas City. “You need to get up here,” he said.
She did get here…to the benefit of The Star and its readers. I trust she will finish her career here.
…The only down side of this is that the paper is losing another experienced reporter. So many have been lost it’s hard to believe — replaced, for the most part, by young people who don’t know the town and may not stay around long enough to learn where Smithville and De Soto are.
McClatchy’s new owner, the hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, certainly will not provide funds to hire someone of Williams’ caliber to replace her. In fact, she might not be replaced at all. Someone who already has a heavy assignment load may be asked to pick up secondary and higher education, as well.
Des Moines Register reporter
The story of Andrea Sahouri, a 25-year-old police reporter for the Register, being acquitted of misdemeanor charges stemming from last spring’s protests made today’s New York Times, getting 24 column inches in the Business section.
She was also interviewed on NPR.
What are we to conclude? I guess that it’s an outrage that a journalist was arrested for allegedly “failing to disperse” and “interferring with official acts.”
I’m not outraged; I’m just scratching my head at certain aspects of this situation.
Consider:
:: Sahouri took her boyfriend to the protest.
She said he wanted to accompany her for her protection. Come on, now. What kind of reporter takes their boyfriend or girlfriend to work with them? We used to have “take-your-kid-to-work-day” at The Star, but taking your boyfriend to work is outlandish. If a reporter thinks he or she needs protection on an assignment, they should ask their editor to send someone with them, like a photographer.
:: She did not have an i.d. badge.
What?! Her excuse was she was a new employee and hadn’t bothered to get one. That’s insane — both on her part and her editors. She should have known she might be misidentified as being part of the protest, and her editors should have made sure she had i.d.
Reporter Andrea Sahouri being arrested
:: She was wearing a tank top and jeans.
That is beyond ridiculous. Put on a dress or some slacks and a blouse, girl, and act like a reporter!
…I don’t have any problem with the jury acquitting her. At the same time, the Register should have fired her for incompetence and terrible judgment. And then the Register should have taken stock of how it prepares reporters for duty, especially for challenging assignments.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
“Lady” reporter? Put on a dress or slacks and a blouse? Slacks? It isn’t 1957, Fitz. The Coasters haven’t had a hit in awhile, either.
Good point about the id. But could do without the sexism, old guy.
You started my day off with a laugh, Silverheels…Appreciate it…I called her a girl, too, and I’m stickin’ with all of it. If money’s a problem, she could find some nice dresses and blouses at the thrift store.
Old guy? Could do without the ageism, too, Tonto.
I had never heard the name Jay Silverheels before…although, of course, being an old guy, I watched The Lone Ranger as a kid growing up in Louisville.
Thanks for opening my eyes, Gayle, and for the stout defense as well.
The Star searched far and wide, north to south, coast to coast, and could not find ONE black person qualified to be editor of the editorial page?
Try to look at it this way, Les: They now have two African Americans on the seven-member editorial board. (That includes Mike Fannin, who doesn’t write editorials or opinion-page commentary.)
Nothing but respect for Mara Williams. When Kraske was leaving The Star he sandbagged Williams by promoting a piece written by the UMKC student newspaper that was critical of a story Williams had written about a UMKC coach accused of inappropriate conduct with his female players. I wrote her an email concerning the difference in the two articles and she responded in detail about her research and the evidence behind her story. Extremely impressive and responsive journalist. By the same token I have nothing but contempt for Henneberger whose work I’ve found to be factually dishonest, misleading and deceitful (details available). Henneberger is as unresponsive and aloof as Williams is accessible and authentic.
As for Sahouri, kudos to you Fitz for standing your ground. Male or female, journalists should dress professionally when they’re on the job (which she clearly was not). Nothing about her tale of woe rings true. When I wrote an every other week column for The Star and wasn’t even on the staff I was issued a badge just to get in the building before I ever wrote my first column. If any part of her statement is true it is a horrible commentary on the lack of professionalism of the entire paper and not just one ditzy reporter.
Yes, that’s the kind of story — about Sahouri — that makes conservatives grind their teeth at over-the-top liberal thinking and knee-jerking.
I’m shocked, shocked I say. Especially since you watched TLR, and being the crack, sniffing-out-the-story reporter that you are. PLEASE tell me you know Clayton Moore.
Of course. Pull yourself together, girl.