The Chronicle‘s reader representative has resurfaced in 2009, and offers this look into the inner workings of the newspaper’s Star section, courtesy of a reader email and the reader rep’s followup:
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:22 PM
Subject: Whitney Casey’s PhotosThe assortment of come-hither poses that accompany “columnist” Whitney Casey’s offerings weaken the credibility of her articles. I believe she has the incorrect job if what she wanted, instead, was to be a “pin up” girl.
In addition, it makes it appear she is using her position to find a relationship of her own. I don’t believe the Chronicle has the duty to assist her. Indeed, other columnists’ photos rarely change, even if they need to be updated.
Jim’s Response: I went straight to Kyrie O’Conner, Chronicle deputy managing editor/features, on this. This is what she had to say: “It was our choice, not Whitney’s to run a larger (and changing) photo with her column. She happened to have some new photos and given the nature of her column, we thought they went with it.”
If it’s dumbed down and trashed up, one might guess Kyrie O’Connor was involved.
The Houston Press blog Hairballs was documenting the rotating glamor photos way back in October 2008, though, so that’s not entirely new.
What is new is the Star section’s efforts in promoting Casey’s new book. Here’s a sampling:
Whitney Casey hit a snag in her plan for finding a man.
It seems that interviewing 250 men and writing an advice book, The Man Plan: Drive Men Wild
