Atlanta Biz Chronicle removes story after mayor complains

The Atlanta Business Chronicle removed a story from its website on Friday after mayor Kasim Reed complained about its fairness.

The story, written by Maria Saporta, said that Reed forced Invest Atlanta CEO Craig Richard to resign.

The City of Atlanta issued a news release Friday evening disclosing the email conversation between Saporta and Reed after the story first appeared.

In her email Thursday afternoon, Saporta offered to post the mayor’s response on her website, Saporta Report. She noted that she was feeling “some competitive pressure” to post the story on Wednesday evening.

Saporta added, “Also, the press release issued by the city on Craig Richard’s resignation had been released with your comments, and I assumed that was your position on the situation, which is why I quoted from it. But you know I always have an open door to run any response, comments, complaints, differences of opinion that you may have on anything that I write.”

The story still appears on Saporta’s site here.

Reed replied Thursday afternoon, noting that his reply should appear on the Business Chronicle’s website.

“I have no desire to post a response in the Saporta Report as I am used to your blog’s biased reporting,” Reed wrote “My concern is that a story which did not include basic fact checking or a response from any member of my administration was published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a publication that matters a great deal in our city. First, the story is factually inaccurate.”

Read the emails and the City of Atlanta’s statement here.

Business Chronicle publisher David Rubinger did not respond to a request for comment sent Friday evening.

Saporta is a longtime Atlanta business journalist who previously wrote a column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her work has appeared in the Business Chronicle since 2008.