Anti-CNN

I used to check CNN online for news, and occasionally I'll watch it on TV, but I'm going to try to make a conscious effort NOT to anymore. Why? A CNN television producer was fired for blogging.

He had started a blog in 2006 while he was on medical leave and it became popular so he continued it. And two years later he gets fired? When this came up, articles stated that a similar situation had happened to a CNN employee, who was fired for having a password-protected online journal which apparently had a lot of positive working experience stories. I know that you can't set rules according to whether you write about a positive or negative work experience, but what happened to free speech? If you're going to ban blogging, make it clear. Apparently the CNN handbook stated that "any writing produced for a 'non-CNN outlet' is required to be checked with the network's standards and practices department." As this producer said, that's pretty vague. And what happened to warnings? The rule doesn't say that it has a zero-tolerance policy. If you're going to fire someone without warning over something, shouldn't they be informed of it when they start working there?

Best part of the story is how the guy explained how it went down: "Ed, seeming to channel Bill Lumburgh from Office Space, informed me of that which I was already very well aware..."

The guy made a reference to Lumburgh...he's innocent in my book.