Reporter fired for reporting

[JimmyHoward33]

Weird thing to focus on from this entire conversation but you do you.

the word orders illustrates that firing the guy for this (and this alone) shows we're all taking this far too seriously.

there's gotta be more to the story. Firing him for simply going to a track meet is, in fact, absurd.

 

[dixiehack]

Was he on the clock those two days in Des Moines. I don't think I've seen clarification on that. If he was on duty and not where he was told to be, they have every right to can him.

 

[SoloFlyer]

the word orders illustrates that firing the guy for this (and this alone) shows we're all taking this far too seriously.

there's gotta be more to the story. Firing him for simply going to a track meet is, in fact, absurd.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Firing him for just one infraction is what is absurd. This isn't the military.

There is either more to the story or Lee and this paper overreacted.

 

[SoloFlyer]

Was he on the clock those two days in Des Moines. I don't think I've seen clarification on that. If he was on duty and not where he was told to be, they have every right to can him.

He says he was supposed to be working on the track meet regardless of his location. His bosses wanted him to work remotely on the track meet, he opted to go in person.

 

[SoloFlyer]

What the reporter did was selfish and dumb. It doesn't matter that he was willing to pay for it out of his own pocket. If he wasn't fired and word got out that he had to pay his own way for the state track meet? That newspaper would still be getting riiiiiipped. I remember an on-air friend once getting a side job delivering pizzas and his bosses quickly forced him to quit when they found out because they didn't want the city knowing that they paid so little that their weekend anchor was also working at Dominos. Newsrooms are cheap but they don't love broadcasting how cheap they are.

Wait, a friend of yours was forced to quit a second job simply because his TV station employer didn't want people to know how poorly it paid it's employees, and that's OK with you?

Even at places with a morals clause in their contracts, it is not the employees' job to protect the employer from public opinion regarding their treatment of employees.

If a place is cheap and heartless, it is not your job to protect them from themselves.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Wait, a friend of yours was forced to quit a second job simply because his TV station employer didn't want people to know how poorly it paid it's employees, and that's OK with you?

Even at places with a morals clause in their contracts, it is not the employees' job to protect the employer from public opinion regarding their treatment of employees.

If a place is cheap and heartless, it is not your job to protect them from themselves.

When I was working in a small market I got promoted twice and had additional responsibilities assigned to me in about a three month period without a change in pay. I went in to my News Director to ask for a raise. She told me I was overpaid and that I should get a second job if I was having money trouble. She pointed out (with strange pride) that the main anchor was also a weekend maitre d' at one of the nicest restaurants in town.

About two months later I took a job in a big market with about a 50% pay raise.

 

[Preacher Roe]

It seems to me the real issue was pushing back on the cost of driving there and back compared to getting a hotel room. If the company is willing to pay for the mileage, accept that and just crash on the friend's couch anyway.

 

[wheels89]

Sounds to me like he kept pushing the issue. Multiple times they said no. He said screw it and did it anyway.
Also wondering if there had been issues with this reporter covering the state track meet or other events in the past.

 

[Driftwood]

I'm old enough to remember when guys got into hot water for staying home "covering" the state basketball tournament by listening to the local radio broadcast and filing a story as if they were there when they were supposed to be there.

 

[Severian]

Not sure what he thinks those tweets are going to accomplish.

We've seen this kind of thing before: A reporter gets fired. Cries on Twitter about it. Thanks random strangers who've never knew he existed for their support. He later announces he's doing freelancing because no serious employer will want to hire someone stupid enough to announce online that he can't follow directions. He does the freelancing for a while. We don't hear from him. We later learn freelancing didn't work because he realized no one gives a shirt about high school sports in his area to pay him the same rate he made at the paper. He then announces he'll write a book about his experience, but that fails because he's a literal "who?" and can't find an agent. He goes silent.

A few months later someone will remember this episode and see what he's up to. He's now working as a PR/Marketing manager. Among his latest tweets is an announcement about the job and a farewell letter to journalism. After that, we never hear from him again.

 

[Songbird]

I'm old enough to remember when guys got into hot water for staying home "covering" the state basketball tournament by listening to the local radio broadcast and filing a story as if they were there when they were supposed to be there.

Somewhere between this guy and Mitch Albom is the answer.

 

[Sports Barf]

A few months later someone will remember this episode and see what he's up to. He's now working for the (city/local company) as a PR/Marketing manager. Among his latest tweets is an announcement about the job and a farewell letter to journalism. After that, we never hear from him again.

And he's probably making 3x as much as he did at the paper he was canned from, so who really gets the last laugh here