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More on Melissa Isaacson's Award . . . and the Trib . . . in her own words

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by OldKentuckyHome, May 1, 2009.

  1. OldKentuckyHome

    OldKentuckyHome New Member

    For those of you who asked for more context and details on the Melissa Isaacson/Chicago Tribune ME Jane Hirt award tussle Friday, here in her own words on Isaacson's new blog is the story -- First the Sack, Then the Plaque, http://blog.melissaisaacson.com/2009/04/29/taking-back-the-plaque.aspx.



    Also if you didn't catch it on Romenesko today, here's another folo http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45to the first story there linked from the Chicago Reader.
     
  2. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    Melissa if you read this, fuck the Tribune. God they piss me off.
    Great blog explaining your side of the story.
    Twenty or more years there and nobody even said thank you to you on your last day or anything.
    Fuck this business!!!
     
  3. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Missy is pure class as usual. The Chicago Tribune sucks.
     
  4. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Holy Christ... I know that the troglodytes at Tribune, whacking quality people as if they are the Once-ler lopping Truffula trees, don't know the meaning of "shame"

    But they should.

    Fuck, where are you Lorax?
     
  5. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    She'd never met the ME? Is the ME new? Isn't it the responsibility of an ME to know your room?
    How can an ME not know one of the paper's top writers?
    Am I crazy to be asking these questions?
     
  6. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Yeah. That also struck me as odd.
     
  7. Fran Curci

    Fran Curci Well-Known Member

    The M.E. is relatively new in her job .. I think she used to be the editor of "RedEye." Apparently promoted because she "knows how to reach young readers."
     
  8. GuessWho

    GuessWho Active Member

    Reading this about Melissa makes me want to punch someone in the face.
     
  9. it makes me want to punch the entire industry in the face
     
  10. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    An extra-heapin' helping of gall comes from the mealy-mouthed alibi that the ME, Jane Hirt, gave (after initially trying to stonewall this great moment in people skills):

    > UPDATE: I asked Hirt if she wanted to respond to Miner's post. Her one-word e-mailed reply: "Nope."
    > UPDATE II: Hirt says she's changed her mind and gives this response: "I do regret the awkward moment at the Lisagors. I didn't see Missy in the crowd, and I wanted to pick up the plaque to make sure she got it. When she arrived at the stage at the same time I did, I handed her the plaque. I wasn't planning on keeping it for the Tribune."


    So wait a gosh-darned minute here: According to Isaacson, she never has even met this ME. Hirt is relatively new, and I could see where a sportswriter who might not be in the office often could have missed an introduction.

    But here's Hirt, referring to the award winner that she'd just laid off by her first name -- no, wait, her nickname! -- of "Missy," as if they were and remain old pals. At least, she's referring to her that way in a caught-redhanded alibi about her actions at the banquet in snatching the award. (I still think it was done to truncate the moment, the awkward reality that people in attendance would fully grasp that someone just dumped after 20 years employment had been judged to have written the best feature story of the year.)

    Anyway, here's my point: If you bloodlessly fire somebody you've never even met, you are not allowed to refer to them by a nickname. Jane Hirt should have referred to her ex-reporter (and her better, IMO) as "Ms. Isaacson." She hasn't earned the right to call her "Missy." In fact, she absolutely forfeited that right by dumping her without even bothering to meet her.

    The leadership in America's newsrooms -- that is, the lack of it from people of backbone, values and interpersonal skills -- is one of the great scandals of this industry. These jackasses oversee operations that presume to tell others how to run their businesses and lives, and yet they are mere clerks and toadies skulking up and down the back staircase to and from the corporate suites.

    Most reporters, copy editors, photographers, designers and support staff s--- bigger than their paper's executives.
     
  11. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Fuckabuncha suits
     
  12. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    I've worked for Managing Editors and Editors, some of the most thought-of in the business, who couldn't pick me out of a lineup.
    All despite 60-hours-a-week in the newsroom.
    The only time they paid attention was when you had job offer.
     
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