Fired from job over Blog

[Motokid]

This happened in my state:

A reporter for the weekly Dover Post newspaper was fired Monday for offensive comments made on his personal weblog.

Matt Donegan, a copy editor and reporter for the newspaper, was fired by Dover Post Editor Don Flood after a reader reported the blog entries to Sussex County radio talk-show host Dan Gaffney.

A producer for Gaffney's show called Flood on Monday to inform him about the blog, and Gaffney aired some of the comments on his show.

The producer "asked if I'd seen this. I didn't know anything about it," Flood said.

"I looked at the site, and sure enough it was there. Immediately afterward I verified with [Donegan] that it was his site and this is what he had written," Flood said. "And at that point I fired him."

This gets into what you do in your personal life effecting your job, and what employers should, or could be concerned with.

Is it right for an employer to fire someone over what they do, say, or write in their free time, and in a place not connected with the specific work environment?

Should an employer be able to fire somebody over what they write in their blog?

 

[abecedarian]

Unless the contents of a personal blog contain privileged information, or personal tirades that could be considered libelous, I would think the poster should be left alone. But people need to be aware that a cyber journal is not private. If the guy wanted to vent against his bosses, he should have done it in a paper journal, which he could keep under lock and key.

 

[Motokid]

It appears most of it was racial and/or sexually charged stuff.

Can read about it/him here. If you want to that is....After reading some of it I now know why he was in some weekly newspaper from Dover, Delaware.

here's part of it:

Donegan was fired for his personal Myspace blog, where he wrote things like "That gym was a god damned zoo. I can't believe most of those animals are allowed out of the house. There was a mini-brawl between a couple of black fans (95% of them were black), some kid said he was going to steal my camera and half of the people there smelled like pot."

 

[abecedarian]

It appears most of it was racial and/or sexually charged stuff.

Can read about it/him here. If you want to that is....After reading some of it I now know why he was in some weekly newspaper from Dover, Delaware.

here's part of it:

Given the nature of his job, I can see why his employers would want to distance themselves from his hateful statements. I am not sure how the law sides in a case like this.

 

[SFG75]

This happened in my state:


This gets into what you do in your personal life effecting your job, and what employers should, or could be concerned with.

Is it right for an employer to fire someone over what they do, say, or write in their free time, and in a place not connected with the specific work environment?

Should an employer be able to fire somebody over what they write in their blog?

If you mention specific people and can't back it up, then I believe you would be hit with libel. To me, you should be fired for that if that's what a jury discovers and eventually finds. In that case, yes, you should be canned. I believe the employer can also lay down the law when it comes to their time and dime. No argument there from me on that point. On your own time and if you don't murder the truth in ranting about your job, I fail to see why they should have the right to fire you for any reason other than your performance. Proving that you were unfairly fired would be hard to prove, but it's my opinion that if you had good job reviews and your co-workers could testify on your behalf, you'd more than have a good shot.

 

[novella]

This is not a libel issue.

Donegan violated a well-established journalists' code of ethics, one that applies to virtually every reporter for any newspaper that purports to report the news objectively.

Different codes of ethics apply to different types of journalism, but a general rule of thumb is that a reporter of news should not publish opinions. That's why newspapers are very careful about separating news from op-ed content.

Donegan is inexperienced and naive, obviously, but the newspaper is right in firing him. That's why the ACLU declined to defend him.

Of course if he was not a reporter, but a janitor, a banker, or a shoe salesman, then he would have a case. He apparently does not understand the public responsibilities and tacit contract of the Fourth Estate.

 

[SFG75]

This is not a libel issue.

Just to clarify, I specifically stated that it was one side of the issue(i.e.-a case) There are many, many, many suits that have been brought to court in regards to that context, but I'll leave the google search to others.

 

[novella]

Actually, it's not a part of the case at all. The paper has absolutely no liabiity for what the guy says on his own time. It's purely an issue of journalism ethics.