Re: Re: WEEI gets a ton of publicity

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

>Joe P wrote--
>Some think that the employee/writer should be able to write what they want
>because of 'free speech'...
>
>And a publisher/editor doesn't have to run a column that he believes doesn't
>serve the mission of the paper.

Well yeah, but the great newspapers and broadcasters are not afraid of 
criticism.  I have heard Brudnoy criticise certain things about WBZ, for 
example, and frankly, I don't see the harm.  I have read some excellent 
columnists (like Bob Herbert of the New York Times) who have taken their 
newspaper to task for some of its policies.   Why have columnists at all if 
you are going to tell them they are not allowed to have opinions?  Loyalty 
to one's employer means being respectful in your criticism, but if you 
disagree on a policy, I don't see the problem-- disagreement is 
healthy.  When the Herald suspended Robin Washington, for example, a number 
of people at his own newspaper were very upset (others, of course, were 
not-- again, honest disagreement is a good thing) and said so.  Why should 
Ellen McNamara not have the right to comment on something her employer 
did-- other columnists have written columns disagreeing with their 
newspaper's endorsement of a candidate, for example.  I think yanking her 
column opens up that proverbial 'slippery slope', and unless what she wrote 
was libellous (which, knowing her work, I doubt it was), I don't think the 
republic would have been in danger had the column run...