Newspaper publisher: Obama won, I'm out

A friend and former colleague in Roswell sent me a message the other day -- said he's out of a job because the publisher was so outraged Obama won again that she took her newspaper and went home.

http://www.independent.com/news/2012/dec/20/emsanta-ynez-valley-journalem-prints-last-paper/

 

Surely not good news for those employees...

At the same time, it is good to see someone who is clearly at one of the far-ends of a political spectrum taking action as a result of an election going against their wishes. Too often I have heard people swear that they will move from the country and disavow their citizenship if a certain candidate prevails in an election - - but they don't do it.

As much as I have to think that this publisher's view of the current and impending impact of taxes on her small business are exaggerated, she demonstrated commitment to her views. She acted with integrity on that which she believed to be true.

 

It's good that someone, anywhere on the political spectrum, ended jobs because their guy didn't win? Move from the country, fine. That action affects one person. This was pretty selfish.

 

I suppose it would be an act of principle if her former employees burned her house down, too. No, wrecking other people's lives for spite is wrong.

 

Friend: She told the staff only 2 weeks beforehand, and that the staff had to obey "orders" to procure our severance.

 

I once lived in a country where, confronted with circumstances like these, the staff would step out, start their own paper and then - perhaps, if they're good at it - thrive as a result of their own efforts.

That country was called America.

 

The Strawman Herald ain't what it used to be.

 

Too often, Jack, you "have heard people swear they will move from the country"? "She acted with integrity"?

Horseshit.

She didn't discomfort herself one iota. She fired an entire newspaper.

 

Another wingnut publisher.

Did it ever dawn on her that she could have afforded the health care for her 10 employees for a number of years with the amount of money she flushed down the drain financing some guy's campaign.

Nope, it's Obama's fault.

 

Please notice that I did not say this woman did the right thing or that she did a good thing when she shuttered her business.

For the record, I do NOT believe that the political and economic climate of the US is so toxic to small businesses that properly managed ones will go under despite good intentions, good management and good efforts.

This publisher holds a very different view. In her mind, her business would be disadvantaged to the point of wreckage in the next couple of years. IF SHE HOLDS THAT VIEW, then the most logical thing for her to do is to close down said business while it still has some value and before it bleeds her dry economically.

I don't think she is right; but if she believes what she wrote about her view of the future for her paper, then her action to close the paper was a logical one. Try viewing her business decision from her viewpoint as stated in the link posted here. You do not have to agree with her; just try to understand where she is coming from.

Someone (really cannot remember who it was) defined leadership as acting with integrity on that which you believe to be true. If you accept that definition, then she exhibited leadership in this matter - notwithstanding my personal view that she led the organization to a place it need not have gone.

 

The thing is, when your paper is little more than a vanity project published only on the whim of someone with deep pockets, this is what can happen. They change their mind.

 

Or, she could have tried to sell the paper to someone who could have kept in running.