anybody know just what was so worth getting fired for???
Posted on 07/28/2005 4:53:33 PM PDT by SmithL
RALEIGH, N.C. - An editor and two reporters at a small North Carolina newspaper resigned Thursday after the writers were accused of inventing quotes published on the front page of their newspaper.
Jeff Sykes said he resigned as managing editor Thursday afternoon. He apologized to The Reidsville Review's subscribers in a column published Thursday.
Reporters Brook R. Corwin and Michael Pucci also resigned, he said. Corwin and Pucci invented quotes in May for the daily "Two Cents Worth" feature, which includes a small picture of a person, along with their name and response to a question.
Sykes said he learned of the deception earlier this month. He said he verbally disciplined both reporters, but now believes he made a mistake by not immediately firing them. "I was trying be compassionate," he said.
The "Two Cents Worth" feature accompanied a standing front-page ad for an insurance company. Many of the newspaper's editorial employees objected to the marriage of advertising and editorial content, Sykes said. Several employees failed to turn in copy on time and Sykes said he threatened to discipline the next person who was late.
"Those guys must have gotten behind the eight-ball and started playing tricks," Sykes said. "I just don't know what would possess them. For some reason they decided against all the training they had."
Corwin had been with the newspaper for 10 months and Pucci joined the staff in January, said Sykes, who had worked in Reidsville for three years. The newspaper publishes five days a week and has a circulation of 5,195.
ON THE NET
The Reidsville Review: http://www.reidsvillereview.com
If he said that with a straight face, he's ready for TV!
Probably too many late nights at the local nudie bar.
anybody know just what was so worth getting fired for???
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