East Carolina fires student media adviser after paper ran photos of streaker

He can always work at Deadspin.

 

Something's totally off-kilter here. If what you're saying is fact, the adviser was canned for following the law. But it can't be that simple. If those are the facts of this situation, somebody had to address it before these actions were followed through upon.

 

This account from a student indicates that the advisor knew in advance but may not have recognized the consequences:
http://melinamerica.com/2011/11/14/the-balls-are-in-your-court-east-carolinian/

 

Isom's attitude is a bit self-righteous. If you don't think it's a good idea to run the photo, say so. It's not a First Amendment issue to advise.

If he didn't advise against running the photos, he was derelict in his duties. An adviser's job is not to give students tools and then get out of the way, as he wrote on his Facebook page. He needs to give students practical advice.

 

Holy shit. Did anyone read the column linked in the Romenesko piece? Sounds like the staff at the student newspaper needs a lesson in public decency. I'm not sure Isom should have been fired, and I'm certainly not advocating censorship. But the editor(s) of that publication need to learn about the responsibility that comes with wielding the power of the press. They also need to learn that shock journalism can damage credibility just as fast as running something that's blatantly false.

 

Small state school with a small paper.
Typically, anything controversial the editor or someone would first check with an advisor. If for no other reason than to rule out potential libel issues.
I'm guessing - just guessing - Isom had advance notice to the photo (ahem) package.

I agree with Stitch, he failed to do his job.

 

small state school?

smaller than UNC and N.C. State? yes. small? not really.

27,000+ students...

 

I think Evil was referring to his school, not ECU.

 

If I remember correctly, when I worked at my college paper I know that our adviser couldn't know what we were doing before it ran. The adviser only looked at the paper the following the day. She's a great adviser. I'm in complete agreement with black pompano

 

He lost his job over it. None of the three girls did. I think he wins the "flak" battle there.

 

I liked how the blog Pampano quoted wrote that running the photo was "ballsy". Nice, but it's not how most would describe it.

If Isom really questioned the need to do anything to the photos, he deserved to get fired.

 

If the paper's procedures here rival anything like the student paper at my school, there's a chance the adviser would have no clue the photos were even about to run (our adviser was rarely if ever in the newsroom during production, especially so on a weekend). It's possible the editors may have contacted him for advice but even then he would have had no say on the final editorial decision. He surely would have been extremely critical, though, the next day.