Chloe Pleznac: former reporter at the Homer News

Chloe Pleznac is a former reporter for the Homer News. After six years working in public radio, Chloe got her first newspaper job at the Homer News in January of this year. After the right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10, the Representative for Homer Sarah Vance co-organized a vigil for Kirk in Homer which was held on Sept. 17. Chloe decided to cover the vigil for the paper and posted her story online along with video of the event to the Homer News website on Tuesday Sept. 23. Rep. Vance objected to the article and wrote a letter to Carpenter Media which owns not only the Homer News but also the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai and the Juneau Empire. By Thursday Sept 25, Chloe’s story had been taken down, rewritten, and then re-published online without Chloe’s byline and without a note stating that the story had been changed. Neither Chloe nor her editor Erin Thompson were informed that the story had been taken down, edited, and republished.  Ultimately, both Chloe and her editor resigned from the paper because of the incident. Joining them in their resignation were the entire staff of the Peninsula Clarion in Homer Jeff Helminiak and Jake Dye, who appeared on this podcast the day after the resignations. You will hear Chloe and I reference Jake and also Michael Armstrong who was the former editor of the Homer News who was a guest on this podcast around the same time as the resignations. 

To read more about the incident, check out this article by Eric Stone from Alaska Public Media, "Homer newspaper revises Charlie Kirk memorial coverage after pressure from Republican lawmaker."

To listen to Jake Dye's episode, click here.

To listen to Michael Armstrong's episode, click here.