Still working for the idiot publisher...

[Slacker]

Oh, who cares. Leave the woman alone.
She knows the risks. She needs to vent. We do that here.

Hang tough, @NancyLou. If it blows up, at least you go down fighting.

 

[DanOregon]

And I shouldn't have said "can't" should have used "shouldn't."
But looking at the current board as of right now, SJers make up the smallest group.

Total: 165 (members: 29, guests: 97, robots: 39)

 

[NancyLou]

Oh, who cares. Leave the woman alone.
She knows the risks. She needs to vent. We do that here.

Hang tough, @NancyLou. If it blows up, at least you go down fighting.

Oh my gosh, thank you for understanding!

I've always had nothing but the utmost respect for my prior editors, etc. They all paid their dues in the newsroom and were great mentors and teachers. But it's SO hard to have a publisher who "thinks" he's a journalist because he did it in high school!

I mean, I and my reporters aren't writing about the prom, for Pete's sake!

And, yeah, I'd rather go down swinging than to just stand there and take the assault on freedom of the press. I've literally had my job threatened if I didn't have my people write exactly what he wanted us to write. I've fought it tooth and nail and it's done no good. He told me last week he wants access to my cell phone and personal email for "security purposes". Translation: he wants to see what I'm saying and doing with regard to the rest of the world. His paranoia is extreme. I told he under no uncertain terms could he have that access because I used my cell for work and as far as I was concerned my work product was mine and mine alone. He actually asked me, "What if I said I'd fire you if you didn't give it to me?" I told him to go ahead and fire me because my work product was protected by the Constitution.

A journalist is dead in the water if they can't be trusted to keep their secrets.

 

[NancyLou]

Not sure I buy all the complaints here. At least not entirely.

That said, this thread raises an interesting question:

Having been given a set of corrupt instructions from the boss, at what point do you quit?

If an editor or publisher tells you to fabricate a scene or pipe some dialogue or violate your "ethics and beliefs," why not just walk out the door?

I can understand why you'd say this, but all of it is true. Every last one of them. I wish I were lying or embellishing... That's why this is so stressful and frustrating.

The guy's not a journalist in any way, shape, or form, but he says he "has a background in journalism", like a high school newspaper's supposed to impress me.

I had an interview this morning so fingers crossed I'm out of there.

 

[NancyLou]

I'd also think about it from a prospective employer's perspective. If you are in line for another job, and it is that easy to figure out who you are from this thread, could that lead a hiring manager or publisher at the new spot to wonder how long it will take you to disagree with them and go nuclear on a message board about it?

I'm not saying you're wrong, just that there are many different levels where discretion may be the better play.

You're right, and all I can say is this: I've always worked for real journalists and editors. These are the people who have been in the trenches and hold dear the rights of the press and freedom of speech. I was in the military and I gave an oath to protect and defend the Consitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. This might sound corny, but it's how I feel.

I've never had anything less than the utmost respect for all my past editors. I've always learned SO much from them and I understood they'd paid their dues, thus there was much I could learn from them.

But when a man who's never written more than a grocery list calls me and my reporters to a meeting room for a class on "How to write a news article" I have a real problem.

I have a staff of five under me and all of them have real reporting experience. Between me and my assistant editor, we have nearly 40 years of journalism experience. So for some trust fund baby who's never worked a day in a real news room. nor sat in a college journalism class for a second, to tell me and my people we don't know what we're doing? Nope. Not today. Not any day.

Give me an editor who knows what it's like to sit in a newsroom at midnight chomping on a greasy burger and cold french fries so you can make your deadline over someone like my publisher any day of the week.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I definitely feel for you, and hope the interview pays off with a new position where your talents and abilities are appreciated.

The cell phone and personal e-mail request is unadulterated bullshirt ...

Best of luck!