17 Apr 08 ‘Post’ Staffer Fired After profane-laden postings

In a story pseudo-related to what I was talking about earlier, a staffer from the Washington Post was fired after some profanity-laced statements he made on sports blog. The problem, however, wasn’t so much what the staffer, identified as Michael Tunison, said, but that he associated himself with the ‘Post’ when he did it.

Michael Tunison, who blogged under the name “Christmas Ape” at the “Kissing Suzy Kolber” site, wrote on Wednesday that he had been fired for “bringing discredit to the paper.”

Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. confirmed that Tunison no longer worked at the paper and had left his job on Wednesday, but would not specify if he resigned or was fired. “We don’t discuss personnel matters, but we have standards for people’s outside work,” Downie told E&P. “You need to clear it with your editors here before and it should not be a conflict of interest.”

I am inclined to side with the Washington Post on this incident. Even though Tunison was only an editorial aide, any postings he made while associating himself with the paper hurts the integrity of the paper as a whole.

Does this mean that journalists shouldn’t be able to blog in their off time? Certainly not, but there is some personal responsibility you have to take when it comes to what you post on the Internet. I go with the Golden Rule when it comes to posting.

If you put it on the Internet, it will be seen. If you don’t want someone to see it, don’t hit ‘publish.’ In addition, if you are going to post something possibly inflammatory or negative about your employer, don’t identify yourself as an employee of said place. If you do, you are just asking for it.

I also, on this blog and those I have had in the past, always include a personal disclaimer that states that what I post here is my opinion and mine alone and in no way reflects the opinions or thoughts of my employer.

So to use the tired, and albeit edited cliché, blogger beware.

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Tags: blogs, journalism, new media

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