Departing editor rips bosses in disguised column

I'm torn between wanting to condemn him for the deception and congratulating him for being honest with the readers about the paper's future.

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/143379/departing-editor-gets-attack-on-bosses-into-paper-by-disguising-it-as-a-gene-lyons-column/

 

He certainly proved his contention that Horizon executives "don't bother to read the Times-Record."

 

He absolutely lost me by opening the piece with a lengthy while about a text message sent to the wrong person.

There's a big difference between being honest with the readers and trying to embarrass people on your way out the door.

 

Can't agree with you there. He didn't hack a phone or come by the text message surreptitiously. She sent it to the wrong person. Her error, his gain.

 

I'm not saying he came by the information improperly.

I'm saying, don't pretend he's doing a public service. He's trying to embarrass people. He looks like a dick.

 

Wow ...
Not sure what to think about that one...


For those of you who work in newspapers is it odd that this paper had NO members involved in clubs or committees? Our paper's department heads all belong to various groups and civic orgs., which are paid for the by parent company.

 

I admire his courage. But in my questioning nature, if the paper was so relelvant why wasn't it making more money? Because if it was making good money, they're not going to ax the publisher right?

 

I suppose it felt good for him to put that out there, and let his backstabbing coworker and corporate managers know what he thought.

Amount of good it will do: zero.

I've known plenty of good people who hate corporate ownership in this business, and some have gone out this way, with one final column blasting away at the corporation. They never get the response they were hoping for.

The only way to hurt corporate owners is in their pocketbook. And you can do that a lot better from the inside than from the outside.

Just sayin'

 

This place is slipping. I had the over/under on the first Otis Brumby mention at 3 posts.

 

I support what he did. If I was a managing editor of a paper that threw ethics out the window I would feel the need to alert the readers to the truth. After all, a journalist should be obsessed with the truth.

 

Jesus, where do you begin? Not only did he burn that bridge, he might have burned himself. This Tina person could bring a libel suit against him. And I'm sure Gene Lyons (or his syndicator, or his/their lawyers) are none too pleased about his name being misapporpriated in such a way. Plus if you're going to fall on your sword like this, at least connect it to reasons why the reader should be upset. He alluded to them in an abstract way, but all he had of substance was that they wanted more CofC luncheons and ribbon cuttings covered, which will have an indeterminate effect on coverage. Outside that, his criticism is ... they have offices outside North Dakota?

I don't get it, and if I do, I'll probably send it back and get the fish 'n chips.

 

I don't admire his courage, and the gist of what he said was totally lost -- to me -- in his method of delivery.

As long as you walk through the door of a newspaper, there's a line you don't cross. He crossed it.