Linda Graham Caleca
2023
By Dennis Royalty
She writes, she edits, she coaches. Somehow, she’s brilliant at all of them.
Beneath a Linda Graham Caleca byline, whether for The Indianapolis Star or, earlier, United Press International, you’ll find the best of what journalism should be. Carefully researched, balanced, the truth. Courageous in so many instances. Delivered in a punchy, to-the-point style.
As an editor, Linda demands, inspires and coaches the best from her colleagues with an encouraging, forthright manner. As projects team editor at The Star, she oversaw and edited the 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning series about medical malpractice, one of three Pulitzers awarded The Indianapolis Star in its 120-year history. In 2000, she helped another talented reporting team win the George Polk Award for an investigation into Indiana’s faulty system of caring for severely mentally disabled adults.
Linda’s stint among the few designated writing coaches at The Star encouraged and empowered many writers to shine. “I had been a feature writer for years and hadn’t mastered writing on deadline,” wrote reporter Susan Hanafee. “I wasn’t good at digging in to get the answers people didn’t want to give. But watching Linda work every day was like taking a master class in being an excellent reporter and writer.”
Linda honed her skills while earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. (In her first days at The Daily Northwestern, she met Vic Caleca, and the two student journalists from Chicago soon married and began a lifelong partnership, in and out of newsrooms). Soon after graduation, Linda became Indiana State Editor for UPI and then was promoted to UPI’s Chicago-based Midwest News Editor in 1982.
Hired by The Indianapolis Star in 1985 to lead its Sunday magazine, she soon jumped to the newsroom where, for just over 15 years, Linda reported and led the special projects team. Here are some, but not nearly all, of her achievements:
· As lead reporter of The Star’s coverage of the 1987 Pan Am Games in Indianapolis, she interviewed Fidel Castro in Havana and wrote lead articles for more than 20 special sections as the city hosted teams from 38 nations. (Irritated by Linda’s questions, Castro called her a “nosy little squirrel.”) Bill Dwyre, sports editor of the Los Angeles Times, had advised The Star on how to cover the massive event. At the end, Dwyre wrote this to The Star’s Managing Editor (and Hall of Fame inductee) Lawrence “Bo” Connor: “Linda Caleca was amazing.”
· In 1990, she was the projects editor for the ground-breaking Pulitzer-winning series, A Case of Neglect: Medical Malpractice in Indiana, winner of the 1991 Pulitzer for investigative reporting by Joseph Hallinan and Susan Headden. The series cited Indiana doctors who committed malpractice again and again, without penalty.
· In 1993, she won The Star’s Lester Hunt Award for excellence in reporting. Cited were her articles about the faulty care and treatment of severely mentally ill patients at the former Central State Hospital. Her stories about a patient who drowned in the bathtub while caregivers played cards nearby prompted then-Governor Evan Bayh to order the hospital to close. Upon hearing this, The Star newsroom broke into rare applause.
· In 1997, she partnered with reporter Dick Walton for Faith Betrayed, a series of articles about Indiana priests whose sexual abuse of minors was covered up by the Catholic Church. Five years later, The Boston Globe published a series of articles on the same topic that won a Pulitzer and was the basis for a Hollywood film, Spotlight. Caleca and Walton won the Kent Cooper award from the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors for their courageous work in ’97.
· In 2000, her leadership and editing talents helped the reporting team of Kevin Corcoran and Joe Fahy win the national George Polk Award for Painful Lessons, a series of stories on Indiana’s lax oversight of facilities that care for the severely mentally disabled.
These stories and others that tackled hunger, homelessness, and Black infant mortality gave a strong voice to people who were hurt, overlooked or left behind.
Praise from colleagues about Linda abounds:
“Tough-minded, gritty, thorough, and a model of integrity… She was the “model boss,” whose traits I continue to hold up whenever leadership is being discussed. She looked for ways to say “yes” instead of “no” to project ideas, she worked longer hours than any of her staff, and she would read every word, every line of copy until it met her highest of standards for multiple sourcing–and accurate grammar! She epitomized the UPI slogan: get it first, but first get it right.” –Andrea Neal, member of the 2019 class of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
“What struck me most about Linda was that she was a meticulous researcher, a clean and fluid writer, and an editor without peer. If there was a simpler, better way to say it, Linda would find it.” – Joan Todd, a UPI colleague.
“Linda is an example to all of us, one whose lessons still inform me as a teacher and an editor.” – John O’Neill, formerly of The Star and now deputy metro editor for the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Her dedication to craft is infectious. Linda and Vic Caleca were role models in our newsroom. I cherish our friendship and the working relationship we shared.” – Dennis Royalty, former city editor of The Star.
Linda Caleca left The Indianapolis Star in 2000 for a communications and speechwriting role that spanned 17 years at Eli Lilly and Company. She’s now a freelance writer, editor and writing coach for a prominent foundation and several universities. She and her late husband, Vic, are the parents of James and Annie Caleca and grandparents to Millie Anne and Ava Marie Gates.