Award-winning editor joins Notebook board
by Dale Mezzacappa on Aug 09 2012 Posted in Latest news
Charlotte Hall
The Notebook is pleased to announce that award-winning newspaper editor Charlotte Hall has agreed to join our leadership board.
After a long career in daily journalism, Hall retired in 2010 as editor and senior vice president of the Orlando Sentinel in Florida. Before that, she was managing editor at Newsday on Long Island, N.Y.
She also worked as a top news editor at the Boston Herald-American, Washington Star and The Record of Hackensack, N.J.
Originally from northern Virginia near Washington, D.C, Hall and her husband moved to the Philadelphia area to be near their son and his family. For 13 years, she has been on the board of trustees of her alma mater, Kalamazoo College in Michigan. She has served as president of the American Society of News Editors and been a Pulitzer juror, among other posts.
Recruiting Hall for the board is part of The Notebook's ongoing effort to maintain high journalistic standards as it covers education issues affecting Philadelphia while holding true to its mission of promoting "equity and excellence" in the city's schools. Hall is the first lifelong journalist to serve on the Notebook board. Other board members have primarily come from the worlds of education and activism.
Hall said that she sees The Notebook and nonprofit publications like it as important contributors to maintaining journalistic excellence in a turbulent newspaper business environment.
"The Notebook is one of the most successful nonprofit news sources in the country, widely respected by journalists," Hall said. "It plays an essential role in engaging citizens in Philadelphia's No. 1 issue: improving public schools."
She added that she has "always loved community journalism, especially watchdog reporting that gives voice to the 'little guy.' I want to use my passion and my experience as a journalist to help The Notebook sustain and strengthen its service to the people of Philadelphia."
As young journalists in the 1970s, Hall and Notebook contributing editor Dale Mezzacappa worked together on the Ridgewood Newspapers, a chain of weeklies in northern New Jersey, and later at The Record.
The Notebook leadership board, which now has 11 members, oversees the work and overall direction of the organization as well as providing fundraising support.
Comments (11)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 18:17.
why is my comment being censored ?
Submitted by Paul Socolar on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 20:36.
If you have a substantive point to make, please make it. The Notebook does not provide a forum for random putdowns and snide remarks.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 22:36.
the majority of comments on this site are random putdowns and snide remarks. you are being a hypocrite.
Submitted by Ken Derstine on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 07:16.
That is simply not true! What would we do without the Notebook!
Submitted by Helen Gym on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 19:32.
What an absolute honor. Welcome Charlotte!
Submitted by Timothy Boyle on Thu, 08/09/2012 - 20:52.
Welcome aboard Charlotte
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 10:27.
You are incorrect... random putdowns and snide remarks are permitted ONLY when said comments are about charter schools, charter school operators, employees of the District or reformers and reform organizations.
Submitted by tom-104 on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 11:17.
If a criticism is based on documented information and experience it is not "random putdowns and snide remarks." The entire modus operandi of the so-called "reformers" is a putdown of public schools to advance a privatization agenda rather than finding solutions to fixing the public schools.
See the excellent article "Reforming School Reform" at the Philadelphia Writing Project which spells it out nicely.
https://sites.google.com/site/philwpjournal/springsummer2012/reforming
Submitted by Rich Migliore (not verified) on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 11:19.
Welcome Charlotte to the school community of Philadelphia whose voice is heard through the Notebook community. Your voice and expertise will be a Great addition to our community.
I also apologize for your welcome being peppered by the disagreements intertwined here. That is not a normal occurrence. Nor is it representative of how "we" feel.
It is my opinion that the Notebook is the only non biased voice for the school community of Philadelphia, and they have always upheld the highest standards of professionalism in their work.
I have come to admire their work and believe it is an essential element of the democratic imperative for our public schools.
I would hate to see what would have become of our school system without the Great reporting of the Notebook.
Thanks for joining us.
Submitted by Harold Jordan (not verified) on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 12:50.
Charlotte,
Welcome to our leadership board. We look forward to having you join The Notebook community....and to working with you.
Submitted by Ron Whitehorne on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 14:04.
Look forward to meeting you and working with you, Charlotte. Welcome.
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