Posted on 03/10/2003 7:30:17 PM PST by GailA
Nashville Woman Fired for Anti-War Letter
A woman was fired from her job at Jones Media after replying to an e-mail written by country singer Charlie Daniels.
Tamara Saviano worked for Jones Media Networks and Great American Country on Music row for three years. She was fired last Friday for responding to an e-mail written by Charlie Daniels.
In his e-mail, Daniels blasted Hollywood and the media for protesting a possible war with Iraq. His publicist, Kirk Webster sent the e-mail to people in the music and media industry.
When Saviano got the letter at her personal e-mail address, she wrote Webster and Daniels back outlining her anti-war beliefs.
Webster says Saviano put her company name on her e-mail and thats why he called Jones Media. But Saviano says it was clear her e-mail expressed her personal beliefs.
Webster says Charlie Daniels had nothing to do with Savianos firing.
How do you know that I don't live in your neighborhood? Maybe I'm the guy that goes to work every morning and cuts his lawn on the weekend. You never bothered to strike up a conversation because you thought you had him figured out. Bwhahahahaha! There are a lot more of us then there are of you, believe me.
As for the faceless Quaker down the road, if he wants to stick his neck out he must be willing to risk getting it snapped. RMN was a Quaker and look what he did to Hai Phong Harbor. I personally think he should have done a lot more, and not that I really care, but how do his actions square with the honored traditions of the Quaker church?
Sorry, but if you're implying that one of those "consequences" should be getting run over by a Dodge RAM pickup, you and I have to part company.
Well, he responded to me directly when I wrote to thank him for the piece. Even signed his name in all caps in the email.
;-)
I guess I commited Treason when I opposed Clinton's Bombing in Kosovo. Glad to hear that you were on Board with Bill Clinton and all his bombing adventures.
Producer fired after e-mail blasting of Charlie Daniels' Iraq stand
By BRAD SCHMITT
Staff Writer
The Great American Country cable channel has fired a producer after she told Charlie Daniels' publicist in an e-mail that the singer's views on Iraq were ''bulls propaganda.''
The producer, Tamara Saviano, has now retained high-powered Nashville attorney David Raybin to battle not only the channel, but also Daniels' publicist, Kirt Webster, as well.
''He's the one who initiated this,'' Raybin said of Webster, owner of public relations company Webster & Associates. ''It was his intent to have her terminated.''
Webster yesterday said that wasn't so.
And GAC issued a statement saying Saviano was fired not for her views, but because she didn't state clearly enough in her e-mails that her opinions were her own and not that of the company.
''Our success as a television network requires that we have access to and good relationships with, country music artists, their management and their record labels ,'' the statement said. ''We believe her actions threatened to seriously damage relationships key to GAC's success.''
The controversy has captured the attention of many on Music Row: Was Saviano punished for exercising free speech, or fired for using company time and the company banner to butt heads with a country legend?
For his part, Daniels said he had nothing to do with Saviano's firing.
''I was unaware that Ms. Saviano had even written anything about me, and even if I had been, I would never retaliate,'' he said yesterday. ''I know nothing about Ms. Saviano's relationship with her employer and have had absolutely no contact with them concerning this matter.''
The hubbub started when Daniels, on his Web site charliedaniels.com, posted a rant against actors who have publicly opposed war on Iraq.
Webster copied it and sent it via e-mail to reporters and media figures in the country music field, and Saviano received it on her personal e-mail account, which she regularly had used for business.
In an e-mail exchange with Webster, she described Daniels' posting as ''offensive,'' ''an insult'' and ''bulls propaganda.''
The first of those e-mails, Saviano concedes, included GAC's name, address and phone number at the bottom. But she says GAC wasn't mentioned in subsequent e-mails.
Saviano then sent this e-mail, with Daniels' posting attached, to two Music Row friends: ''Did y'all see this? I think it's time for everyone to boycott Charlie Daniels. If you disagree with his angry, bitter open letter to Hollywood, pass this on to all of your friends and tell them to stop purchasing CDB music or concert tickets.''
Saviano also forwarded it to Webster with a note saying she was going to send it to 2,000 people.
Yesterday, she said she actually sent it to just three people, and that the mass e-mail claim was a ''tongue-in-cheek'' joke.
GAC apparently didn't think so.
''Without consent of the company, the employee sent a communication via an e-mail account she regularly used in her capacity as a GAC employee calling for a boycott of Mr. Charlie Daniels' music concerts in opposition to his 'Open Letter to Hollywood,' '' the GAC statement said.
Webster said he called GAC last Wednesday not to complain about Saviano's views, but to make sure a special on Daniels scheduled to air two days later would, indeed, be broadcast, despite Saviano's views.
''I didn't call to complain, and I didn't call to get her fired,'' he said. ''That wasn't our intention.''
Saviano insists she expressed her opinion on her own time and on her own e-mail account. She also said she didn't consider her exchange with Webster confrontational.
''I didn't think it was testy at all,'' she said. ''I just thought it was a free exchange of blather.''
Plus, Saviano said, Webster knew her from other Music Row jobs and should've known that she was responding as an individual, not as a GAC employee.
''I just want to send a message that this isn't right,'' she said. ''I believe that my personal convictions that I stated
have nothing to do with my job performance.''
I will say this once more slowly, okay? When-our-troops-are-engaged-in-combat, all-protest-needs- to-end. At that point, I am more concerned about the lives of our warriors than the politicians or their politics. Why is this so bloody difficult for some of you to understand? It's the soldiers and their families that matter. Period, end of story.
I don't really want to kill anyone, Mars, but I am fed up with the dissent. I'm at the age where if push comes to shove, I'm not sure what I would do. One thing's for certain, if I see these ungrateful, unwashed creeps on the street holding their "Bush is a Nazi", "Don't Kill Iraqi Babies" or "No Blood for Oil" posters, I will not pass quietly by.
Thanks for your post. O.C.
All of the above.
But they aren't traitors and they aren't seditious. Not unless and until they start committing acts of sabotage and general insurrection.
We uphold their right to speak out, no matter how lamely, because we reserve that right to ourselves. Ultimately the truth ALWAYS prevails--no matter how much it might have to go through.
Now, that some of these people DO have evil intent, I do not doubt, but again, the guiding philosophy of our nation's law is that you are innocent until proved guilty. And speaking unpopular opinions are NOT prima facie evidence of guilt.
If I break the law, I expect to pay the price. I don't need you to lecture me about the law and my own conscience. What these protesters and their Vietnam era counterparts engage(d) in is not what our founding fathers envisioned nearly 230 years ago. The fact that my generation's leaders did not have the courage to fully prosecute the war in Vietnam and crush the communists is what caused this whole mess we're in now. The dissent I am hearing and seeing is reminiscent of the '60s and it is wrong. Unfortunately, the genie was loosed from the bottle during the late '60s and I don't think we will ever be able to coax it back in.
You may want to invest in a grammar/spell checker. Wading through your drivel is difficult enough without all the errors.
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