Categories: OLD Media Moves

Departing AP biz reporter blasts biz news management

Janna Herron, a former business reporter for the Associated Press, sent a farewell e-mail on Friday as her parting shot that criticized business news management at the wire service.

The e-mail was posted on Romenesko.

Herron wrote, “I also appreciated the camaraderie that management helped to foster in the newsroom: reporters working together and helping one another; editors encouraging, developing and motivating reporters; and, of course, happy hours that weren’t good-byes.

“Sadly, that is not the department I leave today.

“I’m the 56th person to leave since the newsroom’s management style turned negative and mean-spirited three years ago. And I’m sure I’m not the last. I just couldn’t do it anymore.

“So, best wishes to everyone. You’re all better editors, reporters and writers than what you’ve been told, and you deserve better leadership.”

Read more here. The AP declined to comment to Romenesko.

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.