Thorp, UNC and the N&O
2012-09-17 - by
When I worked at the N&O eons ago, I remember seeing Bill Friday and several key aides frequently coming in to meet with then-Editor Claude Sitton and the editorial-page staff. Therein lies a lesson for UNC and Holden Thorp’s successor.
In the end (see my blog last week), Thorp concluded he couldn’t hold on. The lesson: When the N&O trains its investigative guns on you and, more importantly, when it concludes you are hiding something, it is well-nigh impossible to survive.
Bill Friday understood that power. So he came to the paper. He didn’t give it the stiff-arm.
The underlying factor in UNC’s problems and Thorp’s demise is spelled out clearly in two paragraphs from an N&O story Friday:
“The Dental Foundation of North Carolina declined Thursday to make public the report that details some of the travel spending that Tami Hansbrough did while working there.
“The foundation’s executive director, Paul Gardner, provided a synopsis of her time there that included details from the report. But he said the foundation did not have to produce the report because it is a nonprofit and not a governmental entity, and therefore not covered by the state’s public records law.”
Believe me, you can’t argue that records pertaining to a public entity aren’t public. You will lose that fight every time.
Posted in General
Thorp, UNC and the N&O
2012-09-17/
When I worked at the N&O eons ago, I remember seeing Bill Friday and several key aides frequently coming in to meet with then-Editor Claude Sitton and the editorial-page staff. Therein lies a lesson for UNC and Holden Thorp’s successor.
In the end (see my blog last week), Thorp concluded he couldn’t hold on. The lesson: When the N&O trains its investigative guns on you and, more importantly, when it concludes you are hiding something, it is well-nigh impossible to survive.
Bill Friday understood that power. So he came to the paper. He didn’t give it the stiff-arm.
The underlying factor in UNC’s problems and Thorp’s demise is spelled out clearly in two paragraphs from an N&O story Friday:
“The Dental Foundation of North Carolina declined Thursday to make public the report that details some of the travel spending that Tami Hansbrough did while working there.
“The foundation’s executive director, Paul Gardner, provided a synopsis of her time there that included details from the report. But he said the foundation did not have to produce the report because it is a nonprofit and not a governmental entity, and therefore not covered by the state’s public records law.”
Believe me, you can’t argue that records pertaining to a public entity aren’t public. You will lose that fight every time.
Posted in General