Former Bond Buyer reporter in trouble in Texas

The Press Club of Dallas is investigating whether its former president, who until recently was the Dallas bureau chief of Bond Buyer, faked the judging of its annual Katie Awards and used an organization credit card for personal purchases, according to published reports.

Joshua Benton of the Dallas Morning News wrote that Elizabeth Albanese recently resigned from the club. She also resigned from Bond Buyer to take a PR job with First Southwest.

He wrote, “Ms. Albanese won prizes for best business news story, best business feature story, best specialty reporting, and – most prestigious of all – best investigative reporting for a major-market newspaper.

“Questions first arose after a journalist contacted Mr. LaVonn, president of the club foundation, which funds the club and provides college scholarships for aspiring journalists. The journalist, whom he would not name, suggested that Ms. Albanese’s victories might not have been legitimate.”

Later, Benton wrote, “The Bond Buyer covers the municipal bond industry and is widely read among the financial professionals it serves. She was one of its most productive reporters. The publication’s editor in chief, Nicholas Chesla, said there were no signs that she falsified any articles in her seven years there. (The Northern Virginia Daily also had no problems with her stories during her short time there.)

“‘We weren’t and we aren’t aware of any problems with her writing here,’ Mr. Chesla said. ‘We certainly didn’t ask her to leave.'”

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