Categories: OLD Media Moves

Company board membership for TV biz journalist lasts one day

Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that the company board membership of a television business journalist announced earlier this week lasted all of one day.

Owen wrote, “A viewer e-mailed after reading in yesterday’s Post-Gazette that KDKA-TV reporter Jon Delano was named to the board of directors of Pennsylvania American Water. The viewer wondered if this meant KDKA would no longer cover water rates and associated matters in municipalities served by PAW because of the potential for conflict of interest. I wondered the same thing and e-mailed Delano and KDKA news director John Verrilli and put the question to them.

“‘KDKA-TV management was not consulted in advance of Jon’s appointment to the board of the Pennsylvania American Water Co.,’ Verrilli responded by e-mail. ‘After Jon was made aware of the station’s concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest, Jon has made the decision to resign from the PAW board effective today.’

“Other local TV personalities serve on boards, including WTAE’s Sally Wiggin, who is on the board of directors of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. She’s also reported stories about zoo animals.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.