CT Law Tribune Web Editor Karen Ali (’88) Recalls Her ‘Sudden Death’ Lucky Break

Karen Ali, a 1998 UConn journalism Alum, currently works as the web editor at the Connecticut Law Tribune in Hartford (photo courtesy of Karen Ali)
Karen Ali, a 1988 UConn jour­nal­ism alum­na, cur­rent­ly works as the web edi­tor at the Con­necti­cut Law Tri­bune in Hart­ford. (Pho­to cour­tesy of Karen Ali)

Karen Ali, a 1988 Uni­ver­si­ty of Con­necti­cut grad­u­ate, dis­cov­ered her pas­sion for jour­nal­ism while writ­ing for The Dai­ly Cam­pus. Ever since, she has immersed her­self in the jour­nal­ism world. After stints at the Water­bury Repub­li­can-Amer­i­can, The (Dan­bury) News-Times and Patch.com, Ali now works for the Con­necti­cut Law Tri­bune in Hartford. 

As the CT Law Tri­bune’s web edi­tor, Ali man­ages the web­site, han­dles the social media accounts, writes and copy edits arti­cles, and takes photographs.

Ali also keeps busy blog­ging for a well­ness web­site and writ­ing free­lance pieces for an indie book review­ing company.

In an email inter­view, Ali recalls her expe­ri­ence at UConn as a pos­i­tive one, includ­ing the nerve-wrack­ing “sud­den death” assign­ment all j‑majors face. 

Can you share some details about your pre­vi­ous positions?
I was a crime reporter for quite a while at a Dan­bury news­pa­per, The News-Times, where I cov­ered many high pro­file tri­als, includ­ing the tri­al of Kennedy-cousin Michael Skakel. I was also the Sun­day Edi­tor at The News-Times, and an advice colum­nist (I was known as the God­dess of Truth).

How has your UConn edu­ca­tion helped you in your career?
The edu­ca­tion there was super. Great teach­ers and cur­ricu­lum. I have often com­pared it to Colum­bia University’s Grad­u­ate School of Jour­nal­ism, where I also have a degree from. I think the cur­ricu­lum and teach­ers at UConn were just as good as at Columbia.

Why did you choose to major in journalism?
I had start­ed work­ing at the school paper, The Dai­ly Cam­pus, where I was a proof­read­er, reporter, and then news edi­tor, and I real­ized I loved the life of a journalist.

Do you remem­ber your sud­den death sto­ry in Newswrit­ing I? If so, what did you write about?
OMG, yes. And I often tell this sto­ry because it was so great! I went to a build­ing, which I believe was called The Field House. It was where [leg­endary UConn Men’s Bas­ket­ball Coach] Jim Cal­houn had his offices. I didn’t go there think­ing I would run into him, but went there look­ing for a sports-relat­ed arti­cle or event to write about. I was ter­ri­fied of this assign­ment for weeks before­hand. Cal­houn was one of the first peo­ple I ran into, in an office, and frankly, I don’t even think I knew who he was at that point. I asked him if he knew of any good events com­ing up and he told me about some sort of char­i­ty, I believe, that his ath­letes were tak­ing part in. That turned into a great feature.

Fol­low Karen Ali on Twitter