Gag gets copy editor fired

[ondeadline]

<a href="http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/071205_prince//">
A copy editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press did a mock front page for a departing employee and a fake story ended up on the Web site and that leads to him being fired.</a>

 

[Ace]

Good lesson there, younguns.

Mock page -- great fun.

Mock story that gets published -- not so much fun.

 

[statrat]

I am shocked that the Santa Barbara News-Press would just kick a dedicated employee to the curb!

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

He'll be one of many who find out how much better off you are once you leave a ****hole.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Dale Rim, business editor at the Santa Barbara paper and the ranking editor on duty, referred Journal-isms on Wednesday to the human resources department, then interrupted a question and hung up.

Knew Dale years ago, good guy, no-nonsense New Yawka. Hey, he told him once that he couldn't talk about it, why shouldn't he hang up if the guy persists?

 

[fishwrapper]

Did Dale work the rim?

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Actually, yes, yes he did.

 

[Write-brained]

From the Baltimore Sun and the Virginian Pilot to Santa Barbara? WTF? I'm sure he'll land on his feet.

 

[thegrifter]

I'm not surprised after reading that story. Sounds like that paper is really fallin into the ****ter

 

[Some Guy]

Unless there was something just completely obscene in that parody, I'm not sure this dude should have been fired.

Especially since it showed up only on the website (apparently) and could have been easily taken down.

 

[fishwrapper]

Actually, yes, yes he did.

I only ask, because years and years ago I worked with a Slot(t) that worked the slot.

 

[jlee]

Anyone know what the fake column lede was?

 

[Pilot]

They made him a fake front page, too.

 

[fishwrapper]

It's an unfortunate situation.
I've made a couple dozen of those pages in my day.

 

[fishwrapper]

I'm not surprised after reading that story. Sounds like that paper is really fallin into the ****ter

Fallin'?

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Anyone know what the fake column lede was?

"The fake intro to the Dr. Laura column was part of a mock-page printed out and presented to Lara Milton, the departing copy editor, as a going-away memento.

"It's a newspaper tradition; you make up a newspaper page (usually page one) with fictitious stories making fun of the departing employee.

"So for Lara Milton, someone did a fictitious 'Dr. Lara' column with Milton's photo in place of Dr. Laura's. The tone of it was meant to be a parody of Dr. Laura's writing style.

"But what someone apparently didn't realize is that if you then use the same text file for the real Dr. Laura column, you have to delete all the mock material; any text left in the file will end up on the website, even that part is separated from what is 'flowed' onto the real newspaper page. It was a total accident that it ended up on the Web."

 

[Editude]

Unless the fake column was profane or libelous, the firing seems unjustified. But, considering the source ... Dr. Laura, who lives there, seems to have a huge sway with McCaw, the publisher.

 

[Tom Petty]

this is ****ed up, but is race really an issue here?

 

[Monday Morning Sportswriter]

He may be the only African-American there, but I don't think he's the only minority. The Knight Foundation numbers show between 15 and 20 percent non-white employees for 15 years. No numbers since 2004, but I can't imagine they suddenly got rid of all minorities.

Which is a long way of saying that I don't think race is an issue.

If it were my shop, I probably wouldn't have fired him, but if someone higher up ordered it, I don't know how hard I'd oppose it.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Unless the fake column was profane or libelous, the firing seems unjustified. But, considering the source ... Dr. Laura, who lives there, seems to have a huge sway with McCaw, the publisher.

Not sure Evel Knievel coulda made that leap. Care to really connect her to this story?