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How Well Do You Really Know the Journalists Who You Think You Know? Can You Identify Us? Click on the blue headlines to go directly to
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Competition #2: Not to Drop Names, But I Do Know Uma Thurman
Competition #1: Uncle Albert Was A Civil War Hero Who Liked Bicycles
Quality Writing and Thinking Run in the Family When my father died in April 2004 of leukemia, at age 58, he was widely mourned in British political, academic and journalistic circles. The Independent called dad “one of the foremost centre-left intellectuals of his generation.” The Guardian described him as “one of the most admired and influential figures of his time.” Reporting for The Financial Times from New York, my American audience is less likely to recognize my filial affiliation. But in the U.K., my surname is known for its award-winning authorship of books and our family contributions to political and media dialogues. Dad’s dad, was a civil servant. Granddad served as private secretary to Herbert Morrison at the wartime Home Office and in the Lord President’s Office from 1944 to 1951. Dad ran unsuccessfully for Parliament three times, the final time in May 1979 when Margaret Thatcher first came to power. I don’t think Dad fancied Mrs. Thatcher, as he and a few friends later launched a journal against what they described as “the bleak age” of Thatcherism. Where Dad really made his mark was as a political biographer. His books on Hugh Dalton (1985), Harold Wilson (1992) and Queen Elizabeth II (1996) helped seal his stature. In 1996, Dad was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and at the time of his passing he was Warden of Goldsmiths College in London University. Mom, too, has academics and politics in her DNA. She and Dad married in 1977 and a decade later they collaborated on the book, The Media in British Politics. Mom since has built a reputation as an expert on the British news media and this year took over as chair of the prestigious Orwell Prize for political writing. Mom is a professor of Media History at the University of Westminster and is currently working on an official history of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). I’m still fairly early in my journalistic maturation. I’m writing a lot these days about fallout from the ongoing financial crisis. My stories are mostly breaking news in nature. The one story I’ve written that comes closest to the kind of writing that Dad likely would have appreciated was titled “A Morbid Urban Safari.” Published in July 2006, the story sparked a lot of online debate about my first-person portrait of the decline of Detroit, Michigan. To date, I’ve not written about my family background for the FT. What’s My Byline?™ Journalists and communications executives who think they know the name of this prominent reporter are invited to submit their guess to contest@whatsmybyline.com. All correct entries will be placed in an annual drawing to win a $250.00 gift certificate good for purchases from Editor-in-Chief.com. Correct guessers will also be acknowledged in future editions of What’s My Byline?™ Competition #3 ends November 30, 2008. [What’s My Byline?™ is a trademark of NewsBios.com and its parent company TJFR Group, Inc. What’s My Byline?™ sketches are written independently of the journalists being profiled and without their participation. All content is © 2008 TJFR Group, Inc.] Not to Drop Names, But I Do Know Uma Thurman Although I write for The Wall Street Journal, I have never traded a single share of stock. For extra cash, I prefer dog sitting. I graduated from the University of North Carolina where I won recognition as a reporter for the Daily Tar Heel. I dig the Tar Heels. I also like running. I placed #178 among all female finishers in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in 2007. I originally hail from East Lyme, Connecticut, where my mother Catherine, has been active with the Niantic Toastmasters Club. It’s not been an easy stretch for mom. Two of her brothers – my uncles – died in close proximity. Uncle Stephen, 57, was a journalist and priest who spent many years in Chile and once interviewed Daniel Ortega, then president of Nicaragua. Uncle Charles, 52, died early this year in Honolulu. Since joining the Journal in 2006, my byline has appeared on six front-page articles, three of which I wrote and reported on my own. The one that got the biggest reaction was my first-person account of my experience serving on the jury that convicted Jack Jordan of stalking actress Uma Thurman. Some pundits criticized me and the Journal for that story, arguing that my note taking for an article at the same time I was deliberating constituted a conflict-of-interest. My real assignment is coverage of online advertising, focusing on a burgeoning and rapidly evolving segment of the ad industry. Tracking how companies such as Google, MySpace, Facebook and others vie for advertising dollars constitutes a big part of my beat. I recently asked two companies who specialize in targeted advertising to size me up. Here’s a piece of what I wrote: “The company correctly labeled me as someone who spends time exercising and socializing at bars and nightclubs; is interested in foreign travel; and likes to go to the movies. Based on my profile…I would likely get pitches from trendy clothing retailers and health clubs, or see ads touting impromptu travel offers, movies or fitness gear. In fact, I spend money on all of these things.” I’m 24 years old. What’s My Byline?™
Journalists and communications executives who think they know the name of this prominent reporter are invited to submit their guess to contest@whatsmybyline.com. All correct entries will be placed in an annual drawing to win a $250.00 gift certificate good for purchases from Editor-in-Chief.com. Correct guessers will also be acknowledged in future editions of What’s My Byline?™ Competition #2 ends November 15, 2008. [What’s My Byline?™ is a trademark of NewsBios.com and its parent company TJFR Group, Inc. What’s My Byline?™ sketches are written independently of the journalists being profiled and without their participation. All content is © 2008 TJFR Group, Inc.]
Uncle Albert Was A Civil War Hero Who Liked Bicycles I was the first female editor-in-chief of The Exonian, the student newspaper of Phillips Exeter Academy. I met my husband, Fen, when the two of us worked together at The Times-Picayune/The States Item in New Orleans. Fen gets out a lot, to fly fish in the back reaches of Russia, research the impact of global warming on penguins in Antarctica, and other common outdoor activities. I’ve stayed closer to home, raising our two daughters, Claire and Nuni (Eugenie). My mom is the niece of Colonel Albert Augustus Pope, for whom Pope Park in Hartford, Connecticut is named. Uncle Albert was a bicycle magnet and Civil War hero who traced his roots to the well-known New England families of Pope, Pierce, Cole, Stubbs and Neale. My paternal grandfather, Mortimer, was a prominent New York trial lawyer and founder of a firm that bore his name. He was also a painter of some renown. As for me, I spent 23 years working in a wide variety of positions for The Wall Street Journal. In fact, when I left earlier this year I was a top, if not the top, female editor at the paper. I’m now in charge of corporate news for Bloomberg News What’s My Byline?™
Journalists and communications executives who think they know the name of this prominent editor are invited to submit their guess to contest@whatsmybyline.com. All correct entries will be placed in an annual drawing to win a $250.00 gift certificate good for purchases from Editor-in-Chief.com. Correct guessers will also be acknowledged in future editions of What’s My Byline?™ Competition #1 ends October 31, 2008. [What’s My Byline?™ is a trademark of NewsBios.com and its parent company TJFR Group, Inc. What’s My Byline?™ sketches are written independently of the journalists being profiled and without their participation. All content is © 2008 TJFR Group, Inc.] |
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