Posted inPolitics

The Hotline on Tong

by Deirdre Shesgreen July 11, 2011 @ 12:00 amMarch 4, 2022 @ 9:13 pm

Facebook
Bluesky
X
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Print

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Nonprofit and hyperlocal news organizations are welcome to republish CT Mirror stories and opinion pieces at no charge. If you do republish CT Mirror content we ask that you follow a few guidelines:

You must use the HTML code below (including the Canonical code).
You must include a byline, ideally in this format: "by Ginny Monk, CT Mirror."
Access to CT Mirror content that you republish must remain free. You may not sell access to this article, place it behind a paywall, or grant downstream publication rights to other publishers.
You must receive approval from CT Mirror Publisher Bruce Putterman prior to re-publishing your first CT Mirror story.
See additional Republishing Guidelines, including conditions by which you may make small changes to story content, here.

The Hotline on Tong

by Deirdre Shesgreen, CT Mirror
July 11, 2011

<h1>The Hotline on Tong</h1>
<p class="byline">by Deirdre Shesgreen, CT Mirror <br />July 11, 2011</p>

<p>The National Journal’s Hotline looks at U.S. Senate hopeful William Tong’s “compelling personal narrative” and the genesis of his one-time nickname, “balloon boy,” among other things. Check out the story <a href="http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/07/will-tongs-comp.php" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://ctmirror.org/2011/07/11/hotline-tong/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://ctmirror.org&quot;&gt;CT Mirror&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://ctmirror.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/cropped-CTMirror_bug_rgb-180x180.jpg&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p>
&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://ctmirror.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=781591&amp;amp;ga4=G-9GVNVL530Q&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://ctmirror.org/2011/07/11/hotline-tong/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/ctmirror.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

The National Journal’s Hotline looks at U.S. Senate hopeful William Tong’s “compelling personal narrative” and the genesis of his one-time nickname, “balloon boy,” among other things. Check out the story here.

High bar. High impact.

We hold our newsroom to a high standard — in quality of stories, ethical practices, depth of knowledge on their beats, transparency, and impact of the journalism. We like to think that it is a bar any other outlet should strive to meet, too.

We just set a new bar by winning the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

The award is a crowning achievement sitting atop a mountain of substantive impact, including change spurred by the On the Hook series that was recognized. It woke up public officials to the festering practice of towing and quickly selling people’s cars before their owners could hope to get them back. The story immediately changed the law that allowed it to happen (as immediate as government can move).

That’s what you get from CT Mirror: high caliber, high impact journalism.

The newsroom didn’t begin their multi-year investigation into the towing industry with a thought that it would win them a Pulitzer, but they did know they had something momentous that could reshape public policy.

For every long-term investigation that didn’t win a Pulitzer, many still could have for the level of reporting we did and the changes in lives and laws that came from them.

When you donate, you become part of publishing the stories and creating the impact. Will you make a gift today?

Recurring support ensures CT Mirror continues delivering the accountability journalism Connecticut needs — now and for years to come.

Thank you.

Leave a comment

Invest in accountability

Want expert Connecticut political reporting and analysis for free?