August 26–September 2, 1999
on media
Forgetting Something
Wednesday’s Daily News ran an Associated Press article about Julie Amparano, the columnist fired last week by the Arizona Republic on suspicion of fabricating sources and quotes.
What the article didn’t mention was that Amparano had worked at the Daily News as a staff writer in 1991 and 1992.
"She was a good reporter," recalls Brian Toolan, the former DN managing editor who hired Amparano (who then went by Amparano Lopez). Toolan is now editor of the Hartford Courant.
"Certainly there was nothing about her performance at the Daily News that gave us any reason for concern, no harbingers," he says.
Amparano’s "hallmark piece" for the News, as Toolan puts it, was a three-month investigation in 1992 into low morale and violent outbursts among postal employees.
