Monday, 18 August 2008

The Press

Off the air


After almost four years, “Callimachus” at Done With Mirrors feels the chill:

In the current workplace climate and the likely evolution of the political scene both inside and outside the newsroom, it would be extremely unwise for me to continue blogging, even anonymously...

[continuing, in the comments:] This newsroom, like most, is in a lifeboat ethics mode[1]. They’re looking for reasons to thin the herd...  ...The last time my online writing drew unwanted attention from my bosses, and a direct promise to terminate me if it continued, was in the run up to the last presidential election, when what I was writing was not the sort of things they liked to see written.
Regrettable, but perhaps inevitable, given the sort of “management” that infests most papers today.  (I can certainly understand his lack of enthusiasm for being a martyr for free speech, especially when there are bills to pay, but my unasked-for advice would be, “Polish your resume. And Get. Out. Now.”[2]  There’s little to gain (except, possibly, personal satisfaction) from being the Last Man Standing; your bosses certainly won’t reward you.)

Meanwhile, this reader will miss his thoughtful, literate, wide-ranging posts.  For those unacquainted with his blog, here are few recent recommended readings:


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[1] Meaning, apparently, a dystopian every-man-for-himself atmosphere.   Certainly not Heinlein’s (“A lifeboat can have only one captain at a time.” - Spider Robinson) ethic.

[2] Yet another demonstration of the wisdom of establishing a “go to hell” fund, and contributing to it frequently.
In a 1977 interview at the St. Petersburg Times, Nelson [Poynter] said: “I always kept about $1,000 in the savings account, which I called my ‘go to hell money.’  I felt I was a better staffer on any newspaper if I didn’t have to work for that newspaper.  I think the most unbearable [job] would be to work for a newspaper that you hated, that you had no respect for.”
(Which is, of course, true about working for any business.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 16:28:13 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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