Welcome to the Best of New Orleans! Scuttlebutt 11 19 02

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11 19 02

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By Frank Etheridge and Allen Johnson Jr

Spellchecking the Hornets
In a televised contest from the sporting world's largest media market, the New Orleans Hornets' maiden voyage into Madison Square Garden to face the New York Knicks resulted in a 97-91 overtime win for the visitors. Good thing it wasn't a spelling bee.

Forward George Lynch, wearing the Hornets' teal-colored road uniforms, sported a jersey spelling the team's new hometown as "New Orlaens." It was the second time Lynch had worn the misspelled top, with it first appearing in the team's first road game at Chicago on Nov. 1. A team official says Lynch was later given a jersey correctly spelling New Orleans. The team wears white jerseys for home games in the New Orleans Arena, with no gaffes in those uniforms reported.

All uniforms used by NBA teams are manufactured by Reebok and supplied through the league, says Scott Hall, assistant director of public relations for the Hornets. Hall says that the local franchise has not heard any sort of reaction to "New Orlaens" from the image-conscious league office, which in the past has levied fines for such seemingly small uniform infractions as sock and shoe colors. "They won't do anything," Hall says, referring to league administrators. "They're the ones that supplied us with the uniforms."

Finn's Wall
A prominent national journalism magazine is praising Kathy Finn, the fired editor of New Orleans City Business, for refusing the business weekly's initiatives to carry advertiser-sponsored news pages and declining to re-assign two reporters whose work had irked advertisers ("Finn's Firing," April 9, 2002). Widely read by the media industry for its "darts and laurels" column, Columbia Journalism Review (www.cjr.org) awarded a laurel to Finn in its September/October editions for her refusal to "lower the wall between editorial and advertising."

Finn, a freelance business writer since her dismissal, still lives in New Orleans. All but two of the nine staffers who worked under Finn have since left the paper. Former managing editor Peter Reichard and former reporter Stephen Stuart are both now research analysts for the Bureau of Governmental Research, a private nonpartisan think tank. Former reporter Chris Bonura is now head writer for Mayor Ray Nagin. Former reporter Brett Clanton moved to Alabama and joined the staff of the Montgomery Advertiser, former reporter Ian McNulty is now writing internal communications for Hibernia National Bank, and ex-associate editor Kaija Wilkinson is now an editor with the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss.

The Trouble with Bill
President George W. Bush is expected to make at least one campaign trip to Louisiana between now and the Dec. 7 run-off election to help the United States Senate campaign of Republican Suzie Terrell. What political heavyweight can the Democrats import for incumbent Mary Landrieu to counter the popular president?

"The person that would energize the Democratic base the most would be Bill Clinton," says pollster Ed Renwick. "But the problem is that if he comes, he energizes Suzie's campaign, too."

By presstime, the Landrieu campaign had not announced the appearances of any national Democratic Party campaigners.

Peter Jennings Keynotes BGR Luncheon
ABC-TV's World News Tonight anchor and senior editor Peter Jennings will keynote the 70th anniversary luncheon of the Bureau of Governmental Research on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Marriott Hotel, 555 Canal St. Jennings will also sign copies of his new book, In Search of America (Hyperion Books, 2002), which he co-authored with former Life editor Todd Brewster.

Previously, Jennings and Brewster teamed up on the best-selling The Century and The Century for Young People. Said Publishers Weekly about In Search of America's six stories of contemporary American life: "The presentation is highly polished, and the authors report nonjudgmentally on various points of view in each controversy. But the authors do reach an optimistic conclusion that, indeed, the principles laid down by the founders 225 years ago 'still form the essence of the American identity.'" Tickets to the luncheon are $75. For reservations, call BGR at 525-4152, Ext. 16.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, Jennings will also speak and sign books at Barnes & Noble Booksellers (3721 Veterans Memorial Blvd., 455-5135).