Wave goodbye to J. Todd Foster ...

http://www.tfponline.com/news/2011/sep/27/j-todd-foster-resigns-executive-editor-chattanooga/

 

Hounds.

 

Hmm.

Anyone know what the personal reasons are?

 

This link was in the comments below the Times Free Press story:

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_210035.asp

I know folks around here love to hate on J. Todd, but I've always liked the guy. I don't condone cheating on your spouse. But he was good to me in our personal interactions, despite my working for a competing paper, and he threw my wife enough freelance work to help us get by when the paper we worked for laid her off.

 

Maybe he's no longer married, so I shouldn't have assumed. When I knew him, he was.

 

So he had to resign to continue to date this woman?

I don't think having an affair is a firable offense... dipping you pen in company ink w/o disclosing it to HR, on the other hand ... But it sounds like he disiclosed the relationship.

Foster was the guy who took the WAPO to task for a series of stories it did on the area, right? Which I thought was pretty cool on his part.

Found it ..

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/77435/

And this .. about identifying a kid urinating during the national anthem on a $20 bet.
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/77752/

 

I wonder if my old prof Tom Griscom will return?

 

An editor dating a photographer at a medium-sized paper? That never happens. :

 

"I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked to learn that ..."

 

Interesting. Only had a handful of interactions with the guy, but he seemed like a straight shooter. Although, like many, I've also heard horror stories.

I didn't even realize he was in Nooga.

 

Wish I knew what's been going on, and if there are other factors, or some other, perhaps unknown, situation that brought this about.

A forced resignation because of a relationship with someone pretty far beneath you in a newsroom and in another role seems to me to be a bit of an over-reaction on the part of whomever forced it.

If that is the reason for Foster leaving, I'd guess that it might have had more to do with some public embarrassment, or something, that such a relationship, and any public knowledge of it, might have somehow engendered, than because of the relationship itself. These days, higher-ups seem to react more to that than any actual issues involved in troublesome situations.

Whatever the case, I am saddened by this because Foster has always been good to me, and was among the very few who was supportive, encouraging and unafraid in dealings wtih me when I was at my lowest point in my career and life. For that, alone, you'll never hear a bad word from me about him.

I'm guessing I may not be the only one who feels that way, either, because if you were honest and straightforward with Foster, he seemed to be the same way back, and I never knew him to ever throw a reporter under a bus.

Beyond all that, though, the fact is that Foster also is among the most passionate journalists there is, and, whatever anyone may think of them, people with a passion for journalism -- real hard news and real journalism -- are in short supply and becoming harder to find every day.

If this job loss puts Foster out of the business, make no mistake, this industry will be poorer for it.