Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Tennessean Is Mum On Correcting Salemtown Misleads

I called Tennessean reporter Nancy Deville 24 hours ago to try to set the record straight on organizing in Salemtown after her one-sided July 1 piece, which I shot down yesterday. The phone call was short because she told me she was headed into a meeting.

When I told her that Salemtown Neighbors had been organizing months before T.R.U.E. started and that Joe Angus was once a member of Salemtown Neighbors, she expressed surprise. She confirmed that the only source she relied on for the story was Mr. Angus, who had contacted her.

She promised me that she would call me back as soon as she had a chance, but I have not heard from her. I may follow up with the editor of Davidson A.M.

While looking at the Davidson A.M. section online, I noticed that Ms. Deville's regular beat does not even include the North End:

Nancy Deville's beat. Tennessean graphic.
Linda Bryant is the Tennessean beat reporter for North-By-Northwest Nashville:

Linda Bryant's beat. Tennessean graphic.
On a separate but related note: almost a month ago I received a call from the pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church on 8th Ave., North. He asked me for the details on why two neighborhood associations existed in Salemtown. After I gave him my interpretation of the division, he told me that he was going to contact the pastor of the Salem AME Church to see about sitting down with Joe Angus and working out the differences that caused the division in the first place. I told him that I was all for collaboration. I haven't heard a word from him since that phone call.


07/07/2005 10:30 a.m. Update: Nancy Deville replied. She apologized for not getting back with me on Tuesday. She said that she had deadlines to meet that day. She offered to do a profile on Salemtown Neighbors. I told her that a story on our association would be great if she could wait until Salemtown's first neighborhood watch signs were installed. I also recommended that she interview one of our members who has lived in Salemtown for many years for some perspective on progress in the neighborhood. It doesn't hurt that she also happens to live north of Garfield St. and several houses down from Joe Angus and the Salem AME Church.

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