Yes, Connie Chung is a bitch, but it would not be a liability if she actually was a journalist in the best sense of the word. In recent years, Chung's level of journalism has reached new lows. She has consistently twisted facts, stepped past the boundaries of polite society, and lowered herself to be only one step away from the tabloid "journalists" that she once pooh-poohed. I, for one, am grateful that her time in the media has passed.

-- Joseph C.T. Chen
Los Angeles

Nancy Chan: Diary of a Manhattan call girl
BY TRACY QUAN (07/12/99)

How risqué, a regular column written by a (gasp!) working girl. What's most notable about your working girl's writing is its mediocrity, yet the show goes on. I suppose your readers want sex, sex and more sex -- what juicier way to dish it out, what more pseudo-progressive "liberated" way, than to enlist the help of (how shocking!) a prostitute. Unfortunately, what Salon has gained in notoriety it has lost in quality.

-- Lawrence Weiner
Mexico City

Inside baseball
BY JOAN WALSH (07/13/99)

In 1984, I was a reporter at the now-defunct Sacramento Union, and Mays was at a nearby Holiday Inn doing an autograph show. Now, this was at a time when selling one's autograph (I think Mays' was going for $5) was still a story, so I went there to try to get an interview. I never did get the one-on-one I wanted, but about midway through his signing session, Mays suddenly got up from his chair and announced to the semi-stunned crowd that he would take questions. I stood there taking notes, then after several minutes I yelled out a question of my own -- something innocuous, like what he kind of salary he thought he would be making now. Mays looked at me and asked, "Is that a notebook? Are you a reporter?" When I said yes, I was, he launched into a long lecture about how all reporters are liars, never quote him correctly, and are sneaks besides. He then ended the Q&A, saying that since there was a treacherous reporter in their midst, he couldn't speak freely anymore. And that was the end of that.

-- Steve Martarano
Sacramento, Calif.

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