FeedAsk the wrong questions, get fired
November 30, 2006 in Watchdog
I haven’t submitted a post with the “unethical journalist” tag in quite some time, but this tale was too good to pass up:
A reporter at the Newport [Tennessee] Plain Talk got fired because he asked questions about Cocke County Mayor Iliff McMahan’s bear-hunting without a license. Reporter Gary Butler, a seven-year veteran at the paper, checked on a rumor buzzing about the county that the mayor had killed a bear without a valid hunting license.
TWRA, responding to the same rumor, eventually determined McMahan had hunted with an expired license and gave him a citation. He killed a bear on a subsequent hunt, after obtaining a new license.
Butler was fired for insubordination, evidently for continuing to pursue a story that his editor didn’t care to print. The Newport Plain Talk is owned by the Jones newspaper family in Greeneville, one of the few remaining family-owned newspaper chains not swallowed by big media companies. One of the Jones’ brothers, Alex, has a sinecure at Harvard where he writes books about the newspaper industry and frequently advises the national media on ethics.
Would that happen here in Peoria? Well, I’ve heard that some senior staffers have tried to get reporters taken off beats after politicians favored by the editorial board have complained to them behind closed doors.
November 30th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Firstof all, there are no ethical journalists, however that does not mean the local political body or well-to-do butt-heads can have their way with them. The J Stars editorial ‘crew’ is lame anyway. Barb Drake is the biggest phony I have ever seen. It must be nice getting your editorial in the paper when ever you want it. She supports worthless causes like the museum, etc. I thought she retired! Peoria politics, media and everything else is run by a ’select few.’ We all know this.