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Dustup over new Astros beat writer for Chron.com

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by BurnsWhenIPee, Dec 15, 2023.

  1. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    This could probably go under jobs or here, but think this is the better one ...

    Apparently the Chron hired a new Astros beat writer, a young woman named Leah Vann. Seems talented, maybe a little bit of a job-jumper, but whatever.

    Anyway, she's hired, then it comes out that she called Altuve a cheater in the aftermath of 2017's ugliness. Astros fans get wind of it, go nuts on her, she says she received death threats, says she contemplated suicide, then deactivates her social media and says she will resurrect it when she starts on the job.

    This has a couple of screenshots with a little bit of her detail before halting her Twitter/X.

    https://x.com/HouCounterplot/status/1735682042426228765?s=20

    This makes me wonder what the SAS reference was in regards to, but this in itself is an interesting tale.
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2023
  2. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    OK, after a little more digging, now I remember the SAS thing. She's the one who was covering LSU football and came in late to a media session. Brian Kelly called her out on it, and she said something along the lines of, "Maybe if you win, I'll be on time."

    Feels like a good time to chime in with the "We're the storytellers, not the story" lesson for Ms. Vann.
     
  3. BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo

    BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo Well-Known Member

    Astros fans on Twitter are vile, vile, vile people.
     
  4. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    So do they forget this in 2 months or whatever when she starts on the beat? I feel for her, trying to build credibility and sources on a new beat with this hanging over her.

    Also, looks like her Altuve tweet was from October, not all the way back in 2017. That's an odd hill to die on ...

    https://x.com/audreypants24/status/1735106438920392716?s=20
     
  5. QYFW

    QYFW Well-Known Member

    How are they in real life?
     
  6. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Fans on Twitter. All markets are scumbags
     
  7. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    As a Rangers fan, all I gotta say to Asstros fans is .....

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Mr. X

    Mr. X Active Member

  9. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    I think I followed her after the LSU dust-up.

    She floats in the lanes of hot takes and then retreats to the “don’t pick on me/I feel triggered” corner.

    That’s a difficult room to paint.
     
  10. PaperClip529

    PaperClip529 Well-Known Member

    Leah is a Dallas-area native and unabashed Rangers fan, which explains the Altuve diss during the ALCS. I am stunned that neither Leah or her employer thought about having her scrub her social media accounts before this hire was announced. I doubt that Astros fans had to look that hard to find those tweets.

    I also learned this week that the Houston Chronicle and Chron (which hired Leah) are two completely different publications.
     
  11. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    I just learned that. Thanks, 529!

    She definitely could use a mentor to help guide her through the thought process of doing dumb shit.

    Went into the rabbit hole and looked her up on LinkedIn. Since getting her undergrad degree in June 2017, she is starting her 6th job, plus had grad school in there, too.

    Her time at those previous 5 jobs: 13 months, 13 months, 10 months (leaving in October as a beat writer for a P5 football team), 23 months and 4 months.

    Couple her average staying time of 12-ish months per job, plus her tendency to say/post stupid shit and not learn from the past, I've gotta think it will cost her in the future.
     
    SixToe likes this.
  12. goalmouth

    goalmouth Well-Known Member

    Since when did Chron.com have beats. I thought it was a low rent clickbait site
     
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