Paulson: Kelley Probe Shows Strength of Investigative Beats

By: USA Today may have actually gotten something positive out of the Jack Kelley scandal, according to new Editor Ken Paulson, who says the numerous reporters who worked together researching Kelley's ethical breaches showed how effective a unified investigative reporting team can be.

"We pulled reporters from all over the newsroom to look at (Kelley's actions) and there is a lesson there," Paulson tells E&P. "Utilizing the best people."

Paulson also says he was still reviewing the lengthy internal report on the Kelley scandal, which USA Today (Click for QuikCap) released last month, and had not formulated any new policies or procedures related to its findings. "I will take a hard look at the recommendations," he says.

Paulson, who took over for former editor Karen Jurgensen two weeks ago, says the group probe of Kelley's crimes reminded him of the need for investigative and enterprise beats and says he hopes to re-establish the paper's projects unit. "I think USA Today needs to build on the past few years with in-depth and enterprise reporting," he says. "We are looking at tapping the talents of the newsroom for enterprise and investigative reporting."

The new editor points to the comprehensive coverage USA Today gave after the Sept. 11 attacks, which looked at how the federal government managed to ground planes nationwide so effectively and safely. "It was the best sense of what we can do."

Paulson, who came to the troubled paper after seven years as director of the First Amendment Center and previous editing stints at various Gannett Co. Inc. papers, adds that the paper's international coverage may see some changes, but stressed that no plans have been put in place yet.

"We will never have the international coverage of The New York Times," he observes. "But there are a lot of newspapers -- The Philadelphia Inquirer comes to mind -- that can do good international coverage and that we should look to for a way to approach it."

One approach may include changing the paper's foreign bureau structure, which includes permanent outposts in only four overseas cities -- London, Beijing, Hong Kong and Brussels. "Is it in our best interest to establish a bureau in Jerusalem or a bureau in Baghdad?" asks Paulson, adding that the paper has two people currently covering Baghdad. "Those are options we are exploring. The question is to what extent should we allocate our resources overseas and in the United States?"

Paulson also questions whether sending foreign correspondents to different hot spots, like those assignments that often included Kelley, was the best approach versus building beats in more areas. "You had Kelley parachuting into various trouble spots around the globe as a kind of one-size-fits-all reporter," Paulson says. "Are we better served by sending someone in to Great Britain for a month or recruiting someone from Great Britain who knows it best?"

No plans for expanding the foreign staff have been addressed, according to Paulson, who adds that he will have the first of his promised monthly staff meetings on June 8. Until then, the new editor plans to spend time visiting many of the paper's domestic bureaus.