As scary as big brother gets in this business

[Simon_Cowbell]

http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/column/the_monday_papers_183.php

I LOVE that he got a screenshot of the post before it was nuked.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Good pull.

"Michaels" used to work for Clear Channel, which is all you really need to know.

Steaming pusbag.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

On the one hand, good for him for standing on his principles. On the other, isn't this him biting the hand that feeds him?

 

[TheMethod]

On the one hand, good for him for standing on his principles. On the other, isn't this him biting the hand that feeds him?

I'm curious as to how you see this as "biting the hand that feeds him," considering that hand no longer feeds him.

 

[Joe Williams]

Makes it easy to root for the Sun-Times in that market if the Tribune, emerging from bankruptcy, keeps Michaels around in any capacity whatsoever.

 

[Stitch]

Subject line is wee bit full of hyperbole, isn't it?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Subject line is wee bit full of hyperbole, isn't it?

Fair use, given the top-level machinations here, and how the big wheels are clearly playing "scratch
my back", to the detriment of the
writer -- let alone the public.

 

[WriteThinking]

Subject line is wee bit full of hyperbole, isn't it?

It is scary, and incredibly disappointing and sickening, that somebody like Randy Michaels is in charge of a major media company.

 

[Joe Williams]

If the Tribune Co. is going to go forward into a post-Zell era, shouldn't it be without Zell and all of his bobos?

How Michaels or Lee Abrams or any of the other scoundrels can hang onto jobs in what is supposed to be a new era -- convincing customers and staff that there is a chance for survival, with the foul-mouthed barbarian out -- is a mystery.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Subject line is wee bit full of hyperbole, isn't it?

Not a bit... try explaining yourself.

 

[Stitch]

Subject line is wee bit full of hyperbole, isn't it?

Not a bit... try explaining yourself.

So it's Big Brother that an article get pulled from a Web site because an exec doesn't like it? Stuff gets pulled from the Web all the time. Not saying it's right, but I've seen worse.

 

[Xsportschick]

Subject line is wee bit full of hyperbole, isn't it?

Not a bit... try explaining yourself.

So it's Big Brother that an article get pulled from a Web site because an exec doesn't like it? Stuff gets pulled from the Web all the time. Not saying it's right, but I've seen worse.

You must have missed the part where Michaels, after a night of drinking at a radio convention, pulled two AMFM producers aside and proceded to grill them on their coworkers. Did I mention after a night of drinking? Yeah, so Michaels records the whole conversation (Big Brotheresque-y, eh?), fires the producers and proceeds to use the info he got from them to hack away at the rest of the staff.

Back in his Jacor days, Michaels introduced himself to employees at recently acquired stations by holding a mandatory staff meeting and opening it by mooning those present.

Maybe that's not scary. But it sure is creepy.

 

[Roving_Gambler]

"I'd like to start this meeting by grabbing my package."

-- The great Steve Cameron, former sports editor, addressing his "disgruntled" staff.

 

[Double J]

"I'd like to start this meeting by grabbing my package."

-- The great Steve Cameron, former sports editor, addressing his "disgruntled" staff.

If an employee is happy and content, could you describe him or her as gruntled?

 

[Jersey_Guy]

"I'd like to start this meeting by grabbing my package."

-- The great Steve Cameron, former sports editor, addressing his "disgruntled" staff.

Steve and I once had an epic cross-newsroom SE-reporter shouting match that was like something out of a movie. We've since patched it up and become FB friends.

If Cameron's your SE, you're guaranteed to come away with some good stories.