UPDATE on the Fired DUer; NPR Contact Information

I think several new items warrant a new thread, especially since the official thread is getting quite long (157 posts!). Moderators, please indulge.

First, the thread by "FreedomFlynnie," the person who fired "misanthrope," our DUer, has been shut down. The reason was given here:

"This thread has been pulled. Pulled on 06/11/2004 1:35:04 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason: No thanks."

Fortunately, thanks to our very own DUer Fear, we have a copy, available here. In addition, FreedomFlynnie has been banned from FreeRepublic.
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NPR Contact Infromation:
Mobile 91.3 | WHIL-FM | Alabama
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WHIL
P.O. Box 8509
Mobile, AL 36689-0509
Phone: 251-380-4685
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www.whil.org
breland@whil.org (Program Director Joann Breland)
stoll@whil.org (General Manager Jeffrey Stoll)
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http://www.whil.org/legal.asp
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LEGAL (please read)
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we do some infighting here, but when someone comes after one of us - we stick together.

Last I heard there was still free speech in this country...I HIGHLY doubt the NPR (corporate) wants this kind of publicity.

I'd also get the media involved. Hell, email Paul Krugman or Al Kamen at the Wash Post.

These Gestapo tactics from FR and NPR show Amerika at it's worst.

Land of the free my ass.

abridging the right to free speech...
A person does not have a constitutional right to free speech at work.

I thought he wasn't but maybe I missed that point.

Was he at work?

n/t

They should not have the "right" to fire anyone. Termination should be a publicly reviewed privelege, as should all things corporate currently considered "rights."

http://www.freerepublic.com/~freedomflynnie/

See the "Okay"? It links to this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1771949

Interesting....

taking the referring page and providing a link back to it.

It's probably just the Back button as a link.

javascript_: _window. history. back()

Underliles and spaces added so it would post.

You can almost see the glimmer in their eyes as they celebrate the sacking of another "librul." It's a red scare redux.

Turn the situation around, were it a freeper being asked to commemorate the passing of Carter or Clinton, I have no doubt they'd be encouraging disrespect. And if that freeper were then fired, hoooo-eee, imagine the uproar.

Hypocrisy, thy name is FreeRepublic.

Hypocrisy is FAR too mild a word.

for shutting down their free speech. :eyes:

If the station manager or program director was a proffessional, with a career path at other NPR stations, he could be really vulnerable if he starts looking for a job elsewhere as a career advancement move, it it gets out that he fires people for political reasons.

This is big time

and it's a MAJOR PR mess for NPR (consider the loss of democrat donations) if it makes the press.

We've got to get this national and get this guy his job back (or a better job from the publicity).

http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/freedomofspeech/index.html

original link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1151209/posts

So a person calling themselves FreedomFlynnie contacts Mobile 91.3 at http://www.whil.org / via an email to breland@whil.org (Program Director Joann Breland) and to stoll@whil.org (General Manager Jeffrey Stoll) and says a DUer's might spin a Reagan memorial into something that was not a vomit of GOP lies and media lies - indeed the question is not about the program telling lies - but is about the fellow being appropriately respectful.

A "choice of programing subtle insult" (whatever the hell that means) to the Reagan memorial program that would destroy the solemnity required upon the death of a former President.

And this FreedomFLynnie feels that political agenda control should be done by management - before they even see the programming that was developed by the employee.

I do like the GOP concept of Freedom in America - not.

I wonder if the thread was pulled b/c someone thought the person had gone too far, or they wanted to destroy the evidence.

Guess what, now FP will deny it ever happened.

NOT MENTIONING THEIR NAME ... and because they had enough info, their job is in jeopardy?! OUTRAGEOUS!!! :(

I read the original post. It was hardly over the top.

Who want's to compose a form letter to email the NPR folks? It might not hurt to start calling them either?! :shrug:

NPR is one of the few sources of somewhat rational news coverage that remain, for them to take a clear channel approach to this could be very detrimental to their overall *image.*

I know of at least ONE LESS LISTENER if they fire or reprimand "X" in anyway.

http://www.npr.org/about/people/bios/indexcorp.html

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They only syndicate.

Gotta go to the owners:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=whil&is_unl=Y&is_lic=Y&is_cp=Y&sr=Y&s=C&x=12&y=7

WHIL-FM 91.3 MHz
Spring Hill College
Mobile, Alabama
"Fine Arts Radio"
Station Owner:
Spring Hill College
find stations owned by Spring Hill College
this feature is only available to Gold Customers

Station Address:
P O Box 8509
Mobile, AL 36689

Phone: 334-380-4685
Fax: 334-460-2189



http://www.whil.org/aboutus.asp

Spring Hill College (station owners):

http://www.shc.edu/

about doing business with that station.

JMO.

affliated with the Jesuit order?

No way! I cant imagine them supporting something like this.

Its a Jesuit college.

Oh great christ!

???

I am preparing to make phone calls.

...I work in public radio as an announcer. I arrived at the station today to find a directive that we are to announce an hourly notice about Reagan's death, the nat'l day of mourning on Friday, and where listeners can go for blow-by-blow coverage. While we are at least foregoing NPR's coverage of Friday's events, we have been instructed to program a "reflective, respectful piece by an American composer" into each hour of our programming on Friday to honor the departed criminal.

I don't want to do it. Were it syndicated coverage, or something coming in via satellite, I would just let it play and mind my own business. However, when an announcer programs his show, the selections he chooses are as much part of "who he is" as his voice. I think it's hypocritical for me to act as if I'm respecting someone I loathed.

So, I'm left with several choices, among which are: ignore the directive altogether; program the shortest possible "memorial" piece (down to 10 or 15 seconds, if possible); program upbeat music; program things that focus in some fashion on minorities and the rest of Reagan's unwanted citizenry; program things whose titles stress negative images about character; or any combination of the above.

Anyone know of any public radio stations in the civilized world that needs a good jazz deejay?

What were the grounds for termination? Calling R a "departed criminal?!" On an obscure message board, without mentioning his/her name?

and was engaged in planning an apparently subversive activity count for something with the station manager.

misanthrope was off the beam on this one, and he knew it when he made that post. Read the entire thread, again. He's not exactly pure as the driven snow in this scenario.

As he said, he intended to follow instructions.

,...and I find that an incredulous characterization!!!

Preposterous!!!

An individual was targeted for his political views, hunted down and active measures were taken to affect his livelihood!!!

Don't even TRY to feakin' minimize the weight of such actions. It's one thing to vent or whatever. It's an entirely different matter when individual citizens are being targeted in such a manner.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1755097

Look, first, at post #17.
"It comes from our Program Director, who, quite frankly, is a decent person but is just very gullible."

Describing an easily-identifiable co-worker as "decent but very gullible" and relating unflattering anecdotes about her in a public forum is VERY unprofessional. Do you think her identity was protected any more than misanthrope's was? That's nearly a personal attack, right there.

Then there's the matter of discussing a playlist which would tag underhanded digs at Reagan, instead of honoring his boss's request to provide a musical set "to honor the departed criminal." That is openly subversive behavior.

On top of that, he gives an indication that he's looking for work elsewhere: "Anyone know of any public radio stations in the civilized world that needs a good jazz deejay?" Maybe it reads like a meaningless grumble to you, but to his employer it's the sign of someone who doesn't care for his job.

> An individual was targeted for his political views,

Don't kid yourself, we're ALL targets as far as the freepers are concerned. If you give out your personal information in this forum, it'll bite you in the ass too. It's not like Lane Flynn was stalking misanthrope for months, and then misanthrope made a fatal mistake that compromised his career. The lurkers cast a broad net for anyone or anything that pops up, which just happened to be misanthrope on Wednesday. Ironically, this isn't really done to the individuals at all, but to attack an entire population of liberals.

> hunted down

Bullshit. That isn't hunting, anymore than shooting an animal in a cage is hunting. That's taking a goddam handout. misanthrope posted everything someone would need to know to find his identity in that thread: city, public radio station DJ, time of his program, playlist. That's a helluva lot of information to drop, enough to draw a line straight to the "contact management" link on the webpage.

> active measures were taken to affect his livelihood!

Sadly, the one who most actively affected misanthrope's livelihood in this circumstance was misanthrope himself, through his own indiscretion.

> Don't even TRY to feakin' minimize the weight of such actions.

No one is minimizing Mr. Flynn's actions, which were petty, spiteful, and thoroughly out of character for one who alleges himself to be interested in personal freedom of expression. In fact, from what I've read here, it looks like there will be serious repercussions for Mr. Flynn and the station manager. The one whose actions have been minimized in these threads are misanthrope's.

If I posted the kind of work-related material for my last job at the same level of detail as misanthrope has, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to be fired -- this year, last year, or five years ago. Now the station manager may have over-reacted, but I can understand why he'd be upset; you just don't do shit like that, if you want to keep a job. The boss asked for a respectful tribute to a dead president, and found an employee talking dirt about the job and other employees on a political forum instead. That's firing material, right there.

play on the air. Anyone who listened to the station would know what the instruction was because they could hear what is being played.

This DU'er did NOTHING wrong.

If you want to keep your job, you DO need to be the tiniest bit careful about what you say online.

1) Don't go talking smack about your co-workers in an easily-identifiable manner
2) Don't speculate regarding novel ways to disrespect your boss -- and, in this case, the audience
3) Don't say you're looking for work somewhere else
4) If you must ignore one of the above guidelines, at least keep your location and identity secret

He said he was instructed to do something. He said he didn't want to do it. But he did it. He was sharing the trials and tribulations of having to work with republicans anonymously on the internet. Nobody cared at DU where the guy worked. Some freeper had to put a bunch of information together and go out of his way to get the guy fired. You want to reward that?

Also, he didn't defame his boss. He said exactly what she wanted him to do. Anyone who listened to his show would have known the instruction because what she was asking him to do was to be performed for the public. Are they embarassed they love Reagan? If they are, maybe they shouldn't be telling their DJs the way they told them to behave.

And EVERYBODY's ALWAYS looking for a better job. I don't think making a joke about it anonymously on the internet is a good excuse to fire a person.

I don't think anyone could seriously argue that, given the amount of information misanthrope willingly divulged, he had a reasonable expectation of privacy -- any more than if he'd written a signed letter to the editor. As for what he said about his boss... well, if you don't see how compromising and insulting that post was, I can't help you.

We diverge on this irreparably, I fear. At the very least, the wisdom of keeping one's basic workplace information out of sight on controversial message boards has been illustrated.

they were no big deal. If you don't, she looks dumb. Clearly, she doesn't think she's dumb.

Bottom, line he posted what she actually said -- the truth -- and anyone who listened to the show would have perceived the instruction since he followed it.

Also, this wasn't confidential information. It wasn't a trade secret.

When you're told to perform something for the public, and you do, revealing that your employer told you to do that is not revealing confidential information. When you tell someone to do something publically, you just absolutely have no privelege over that information.

That's one of the reasons this so outrageous.

This guy was fired for saying something non-defamatory about something that was ultimately public.

since when is that relevant in a right to work state?

It's OUR radio. WE pay for it.

Do we have a right to know what programming instructions are being given on OUR radio? Absolutely. In any city in America. That's freedom of information, free speech, transparancy in government, whatever.

Does he have a right to disagree in public? I would hope so. We wouldn't know anything the Bushies were doing if a host of employees weren't disagreeing in public. From the Medicare budget fraud to the Parks budget bullshit to Abu Ghreib and the rest of it.

He said his boss was gullible. Is that a firing matter? A reprimand maybe, but not getting fired. I think anybody ought to be able to say "I work for Jane Smith and she's gullible" and not get fired.

No, I don't think he did anything wrong, specifically because it WAS public radio. But any directions like this that has to do with OUR airwaves, we have a right to know.

I have been catching up and I thought it was some kind of local news programming at issue. You are telling me that "misanthrope" was fired over his decisions in MUSIC programming? That they fired him because he considered programming MUSIC that didn't flatter Reagan?

Way worse than I thought. Unbelievable.

Misanthrope, whatever you need!!! I am in NYC. If I can help, PM! At your service.

Our studios and offices are located in Murray Hall of Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. Licensed to the college, the station is operated under the direction of Gulf Coast Public Broadcasting, Inc., a non-profit community board.

...seems if you can find out who this board is, you can have some leverage.

:shrug:

anyone know if there is some progressive network in Mobile who can put pressure on the station?

And what would the goals be...to rehire the DUer? To fire the station manager?

Hard to say.

eom

,...consult with counsel. Some thought and reflections MUST be engaged or anything anyone does could simply HURT this victim/plaintiff!!

Please, please,...

X was fired.

one more less listener,
dp

:mad: :(

Kick it

You wake up late for school - man you don't wanna go
You ask you mom, "Please?" - but she still says, "No!"
You missed two classes - and no homework
But your teacher preaches class like you're some kind of jerk

(chorus) You gotta fight for your right to party

You pop caught you smoking - and he said, "No way!"
That hypocrite - smokes two packs a day
Man, living at home is such a drag
Now your mom threw away your best porno mag (Bust it!)

(repeat chorus)

Don't step out of this house if that's the clothes you're gonna wear
I'll kick you out of my home is you don't cut that hair
Your mom busted in and said, "What's that noise?"
Aw, mom you're just jealous - it's the Beastie Boys!

And we say "kick," as in "kick the thread."

a way too keep a thread at the top or on the front page is to "kick" it every once in a while. You do that if you think the thread is important and want to make sure people see it.

:kick: kick

:hi:

I'm going to school where this radio station is located!!

This is insane!

.

i didn't even know that was possible...i'm new to discussion boards.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1151571/posts

they're laughing about the guy loosing his job...praising poster for "doing the right thing"

I didn't see anything about the member being banned

:puke:
Free Republic

:puke:
Freedom Flynie

I'm curious. What exactly happened here? Were both parties (the dismissed and the person who did the dismissing) members of DU? And were they posting anonymously?

Hey, y'all!

I'll add more to this later. For now, I'm a 21 year old college student at school in Tennessee. Anything else you're dying to know, I'll be happy to tell you via email, 'til I get more put up here. Oh yeah - I'm single, but that's only because Ann Coulter hasn't met me yet :-)

My favorite ping lists:
Leftism on Campus - Freepmail Hobsonphile to get it
General Aviation - Freepmail Aeronaut to get it

1. how wholly innocuous the original post is.

"What a dilemma...

"...I work in public radio as an announcer. . . we have been instructed to program a "reflective, respectful piece by an American composer" into each hour of our programming on Friday to honor the departed criminal (Reagan).

"I don't want to do it. Were it syndicated coverage, or something coming in via satellite, I would just let it play and mind my own business. However, when an announcer programs his show, the selections he chooses are as much part of "who he is" as his voice. I think it's hypocritical for me to act as if I'm respecting someone I loathed.

"So, I'm left with several choices, among which are: ignore the directive altogether; program the shortest possible "memorial" piece (down to 10 or 15 seconds, if possible); program upbeat music; program things that focus in some fashion on minorities and the rest of Reagan's unwanted citizenry; program things whose titles stress negative images about character; or any combination of the above."

*****
That's what got him fired--that he didn't WANT to follow the wholly political message that his boss was forcing him to put on the air AS IF IT WERE OF HIS OWN VOLITION.

He muses about some POSSIBLE alternatives. His performance of his responsibilities were never in question because he was not allowed to work his "shift." He got fired before he could go on.

Folks, this is nothing. This is a guy who is justifiably pissed off about having to make a political statement that does not reflect his political belief. If that isn't an infringment of free expression under the first amendment, I don't know what the F is.

2. The number of DU-ers who are saying "I'm a boss, and I would fire him too." Listen, he wasn't going on the air and saying my boss sucks or listen to another radio station. He wasn't going to hurt anybody or burn the place down.

You folks that have employees working "under" you have every right to expect that they will meet their job responsibilities in a happy and cooperative manner to their best of their abilities, and if they don't, they can be fired, yes--no argument.

But nobody (not even "the boss") has the "right" to force someone to express a political belief that they don't hold.

If the patriots fought and died for anything, it was for that.

And that WITHOUT QUESTION is what "the boss" asked of the employee.

He was hired to play music appropriate to the format of the station as its board, management, and stakeholders require. It is not to mirror a political message of his immediate supervisor.

That this employee would post to a message board to vent his feeling of the injustice of the situation and muse about what he MIGHT do should in no way get him fired.

It's ridiculous. And wholly unfair.

******

P.S. To those of you who say "I'd fire him too," it's a good thing that you can't read your employees' minds. "To see yourself as others see you," might very well prove a humbling experience for you.

Nobody agrees with somebody else all the time, period. That's why good bosses work for consensus. Bad bosses work like mini-W's.

ear at this site, where the hell can he?

Somebody disagrees with their boss because he's forcing them to make a statement of support that they don't believe in, and then other DUer's call HIM "subversive."

Let's drop our love-affair with so-called "free market" and "boss idolatry" and corporate lies ("you're so lucky to have a job at all") and see the reality of this situation--a boss using his position of authority to make somebody else mouth his political beliefs.

Fighting against that is not "subversion"--it is "American."

It is one of the most patriotic acts that I've heard of for awhile.

In the immortal words of e. e. cummings ("I sing of Olaf, glad and big"), "there is some shit I will not eat."