Submitted by Chris Merriam (not verified) on February 29, 2008 - 9:57pm.
// I contacted the Washington Post about “our” story and asked for someone to investigate the deeper story of what lies beneath firing Marc. The reaction was tepid at best which only increased my paranoia. The person I was told to contact was Ms. Newhall at the Post. She said she would circulate the tip around the other newsdesks in case another reporter might think it interesting.. But I have heard nothing. I was hoping that others would also email her. This feels like “The China Syndrome” about media and I am unnerved by the implications. //
Or perhaps they consider this a "Baltimore issue" and thus unworthy of the Post's attention.
I really hate to say this, because 1) it's basically playing the GOP smear game in reverse, and 2) it doesn't apply across the board, but...
Tony Brandon is a Republican businessman. It's becoming clearer everyday that he ascribes to a fairly standard conservative view of what a radio station's job is - to make money, period.
In a sense, we shouldn't be surprised that this happened. Did we really think that a guy like that would be diligent in maintaining WYPR as a public institution?
I'm not dissing Republican businessmen as a whole. Sometimes, you need a profit-obsessed person to run things. No offense to Marc or any of the more progressive folks on this board (myself included), but how many of us have the business sense and grasp of numbers to run a multi-million dollar business? (And yes, even our late, lamented, idealized WYPR was a business - you gotta pay the bills somehow.) I have a feeling that most of us were humanities majors, am I right?
But what I'm trying to say, in my meandering style, is that when you bring a hungry lion into your home, you shouldn't be surprised when he bites your hand off and destroys all your stuff.
That's what lions do.
That said, I think that Brandon's resentment of Marc, combined with the dubious ratings excuse, merely provided the impetus to fire Marc. But we all know that isn't the real reason. The two men were oil and water from the beginning. Or, to continue my lazy metaphor, lion and lamb.
// I contacted the
// I contacted the Washington Post about “our” story and asked for someone to investigate the deeper story of what lies beneath firing Marc. The reaction was tepid at best which only increased my paranoia. The person I was told to contact was Ms. Newhall at the Post. She said she would circulate the tip around the other newsdesks in case another reporter might think it interesting.. But I have heard nothing. I was hoping that others would also email her. This feels like “The China Syndrome” about media and I am unnerved by the implications. //
Or perhaps they consider this a "Baltimore issue" and thus unworthy of the Post's attention.
I really hate to say this, because 1) it's basically playing the GOP smear game in reverse, and 2) it doesn't apply across the board, but...
Tony Brandon is a Republican businessman. It's becoming clearer everyday that he ascribes to a fairly standard conservative view of what a radio station's job is - to make money, period.
In a sense, we shouldn't be surprised that this happened. Did we really think that a guy like that would be diligent in maintaining WYPR as a public institution?
I'm not dissing Republican businessmen as a whole. Sometimes, you need a profit-obsessed person to run things. No offense to Marc or any of the more progressive folks on this board (myself included), but how many of us have the business sense and grasp of numbers to run a multi-million dollar business? (And yes, even our late, lamented, idealized WYPR was a business - you gotta pay the bills somehow.) I have a feeling that most of us were humanities majors, am I right?
But what I'm trying to say, in my meandering style, is that when you bring a hungry lion into your home, you shouldn't be surprised when he bites your hand off and destroys all your stuff.
That's what lions do.
That said, I think that Brandon's resentment of Marc, combined with the dubious ratings excuse, merely provided the impetus to fire Marc. But we all know that isn't the real reason. The two men were oil and water from the beginning. Or, to continue my lazy metaphor, lion and lamb.
Why are we surprised? The lamb always gets eaten.