Saints Irritated With WGNO ABC Reporters Tactics

Saints Irritated With WGNO-ABC Reporter’s Tactics

Published June 9, 2003

The New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE’s Pierce Huff reports that WGNO-ABC Sports Dir Harry McCulla “irritated the Saints because he allegedly did not follow the team’s protocol for requesting interviews before he aired comments” by Saints WR Joe Horn.  McCulla contacted Horn, who recently ended a holdout with the club, “after the team had announced that Horn would not be available for the media.”  When the Saints decided Horn wouldn’t talk, the “apparent rule is no one in the press corps is allowed to interview him on Saints property, even if both parties are willing.  That goes for the parking lot, too, where Horn said he’d meet McCulla.”  Saints Media & Public Relations Dir Greg Bensel: “When the players are at our facility, we have a set of rules and guidelines.  I was not happy for Harry putting us in a bad situation” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 6/1).