The Gaither High paper finally ran the retraction the editor refused to give. Now in college, she decided to drop it.
By LOGAN MABE
Published December 28, 2003
NORTHDALE - Last spring, Gaither High School Pony Express newspaper editor Erin Maloney went head to head with the school's administration over a story she wrote. It didn't go well.
Maloney stood by "New Coach Strikes Out," which was critical of the girls' softball coach. Then-principal Ken Adum pressed for a retraction and a written apology.
Neither side gave in. Maloney and her staff decided not to publish the final edition of the paper.
Since then, the players have scattered to the four winds.
Maloney is a freshman in the journalism program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; Adum was promoted to an area director position with the school district; and Jesse Kowal, the softball coach at Gaither, has left the program.
Maloney, while busy with her college studies, is still irked by how the Pony Express situation played out.
"The Student Press Law Center contacted me over and over again, wanting me to take legal action," Maloney said. "But then I got into college I thought I don't know if it's going to be worth my time, especially for a high school publication."
This fall, Maloney said, the Pony Express finally ran a retraction saying that "basically I did false reporting and sensationalized it."
Maloney's story, based mostly on interviews with players who had left the team, portrayed Kowal as harsh, unfair and confrontational. Maloney reported that seven players had quit or decided not to try out because of conflicts with Kowal. Maloney said she tried to get Kowal's side, but the coach would not be interviewed.
Today Maloney is working toward a career in broadcast news. "I'm not writing for the newspaper yet because classes are really demanding," Maloney said. "But next semester I'm going to jump into that." She had a chance to hear fallen New Republic reporter Stephen Glass speak at a campus seminar.
"It's just amazing to be in media in Washington, D.C.," Maloney said. "I went to the local ABC affiliate and got a tour of the whole facility and we got to sit next to the 6 p.m. news anchors. You see what you're working for and it makes college much easier."
- LOGAN D. MABE
[Last modified December 27, 2003, 08:45:14]
