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CNN fires producer for being smart
If you follow the media business at all, you might have heard of Chez Pazienza — a CNN producer who was fired recently for having a blog. This isn’t that uncommon, sadly. In fact, it even has its own term: getting fired for your blog is called getting Dooced, after a blog of the same name got Heather Armstrong fired way back in 2002. So what happened to Chez is hardly unique. But for some reason it seems even more pathetic for something like this to happen to someone in the media — since blogs are just another medium, one you might hope outlets like CNN would be experimenting with. Or at least should be.
Heather Armstrong got fired for writing satirical blog posts about a place she worked. Why did Chez Pazienzia get fired? That’s not really clear. If you read his lengthy update about the situation — which I encourage you to do — he says it was made pretty obvious that while his blog technically broke the rules (which require that all outside writing be pre-approved by the network), the real reason he was fired was what he was writing about, i.e. the content of some of his blog posts.
It’s still not clear what was wrong with that content, however, other than the fact that he spoke his mind about various aspects of pop culture, the media, and occasionally political issues as well. I suspect it was when his posts started showing up at The Huffington Post (where some of mine also appear from time to time) that certain eyebrows started to be raised at CNN. But even that was never explicitly mentioned when he was given his walking papers. He was just shown the door.
As a blogger who also has a day job with a large media entity, I’m somewhat, er… sensitive to these issues, shall we say. I try to keep the things I write about on this blog focused on my beat, which is technology and new media, and when I stray from that I keep in mind that to some extent I represent the Globe and Mail and that they sign my pay cheques. That said, I think what CNN did to Chez Pazienza was pretty stupid. From reading his blog posts, he seems like a passionate guy, and a pretty smart guy as well. Isn’t that the kind of staffer they want?
Maybe he wrote some things that crossed the line into partisan ideology, things that CNN thought might make people question his ability to be fair or balanced as a producer. Or maybe he wrote some posts that the network thought made it look bad, by criticizing the popular media coverage of some issue. Either way, why not just go to him and ask him to tone it down a little? As far as I can tell, there’s no indication that anyone did that. And now, CNN just looks like a bully, and a stupid one at that.
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I posted about the Pazienzia flap this morning on Poynter's E-Media Tidbits: http://snurl.com/201ql
There I asked journos to say what their employers' policies are about blogging -- and to post the policy language, if possible.
Also there I noted: "It seems to me that as the media landscape shifts toward becoming more open, conversational, and personal, it's unreasonable and even counterproductive to ask or expect journalists (or anyone, really) not to participate. These days, if you're "in the media," failure to engage and participate in a transparent way online can seriously undermine your credibility -- or at least your perceived relevance."
I hope the G&M realizes how innately stupid it would be to fire you or anyone just for blogging. If anything, your blog makes you even *more* valuable to them.
- Amy Gahran
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As for us having a blogging policy, I know that we do but I can't seem
to find it on our intranet anywhere. I'm pretty sure it has the
standard language about getting approval from your manager, making
sure you stick to the Globe's ethical guidelines, etc. etc. Probably
a lot like what CNN has.
On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Disqus
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The Globe should be given kudo as well I imagine for being as imbracing of the new media as they are - even though I still think there is still away to go but hen you aould have a better view point on that.
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your post is one of the things that got me thinking about it.
On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 5:40 PM, Disqus
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That said, perhaps a firing wasn't in order. If he was such a popular blogger, perhaps they might've found a way to capitalize on that and reap the benefits for CNN.com.
In your case Matthew, your blog pretty much sticks to technology issues, and I believe it enhances your stature as a tecnology writer, which in turn benefits the Globe and Mail. Your blog and Pazienza's appear to be on very different ground.
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into some pretty controversial topics -- I just think maybe a
discussion with him about appropriate boundaries or whatever might
have been a better way to go, rather than firing him.
On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Disqus
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