By Ray Stern | Phoenix New Times
Arizona State University is justifiably proud of its Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, calling it “the gold standard of journalism education.”
But ASU’s media relations department routinely embarrasses the Cronkite reputation, ignoring public records laws that the school teaches its students.
Case in point: The university last month finally got around to releasing public records that I’d requested in friggin’ September 2016. (Full disclosure: I’m a Cronkite grad, class of ’97.)
When I pressed ASU for a reason for the epic delay, Katie Paquet, vice president of ASU’s Media Relations and Strategic Communications office, agreed to meet me at the Fulton Center last week to talk about it. She described an unwritten policy ASU had in which police reports weren’t released to the media until the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office notifies ASU the case has been fully adjudicated.eeee
She claimed this was not unusual, despite admitting she was an avid newspaper reader and therefore would know it was not. Police reports are routinely released to the media by police agencies long before a court case is finished.
On top of everything, Paquet, the face of media relations at ASU, while conducting public business in a public building, said she didn’t want her photo taken. Phoenix New Timestook one anyway.
