Conn. paper tells staffer to kill blog

We knew this day would come. A daily newspaper editor has ordered one of its journalists to suspend his personal weblog.

Editor & Publisher has the details: Hartford Paper Tells Employee to Kill Blog. Travel editor Denis Horgan’s weblog “created a parallel journalistic universe where he’ll do commentary on institutions that the paper has to cover,” says Hartford Courant editor Brian Toolan. (Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.) Excerpt from the E&P article:

Horgan is a former columnist for the paper who was transferred to the travel writing position earlier this year.

After losing his column, Horgan decided to set up his own Web page, where he has commented on everything from baseball to the Iraqi information minister to same-sex unions. “It kept me happy and gave me a chance to keep doing things that I wanted to do,” Horgan told E&P Online. “I do it on my own time, from my own house. I’m not competing with the Courant. I’m not looking for advertisers.” …

But Toolan sees it differently. “Denis Horgan’s entire professional profile is a result of his attachment to The Hartford Courant, yet he has unilaterally created for himself a parallel journalistic universe where he’ll do commentary on the institutions that the paper has to cover without any editing oversight by the Courant,” Toolan said. “That makes the paper vulnerable.”

The editor added that allowing an employee to set up his own opinion blog was a bad precedent. “There are 325 other people here who could create similar [Web sites] for themselves,” Toolan said.

Denis Horgan writes on his weblog:

It is with the most profound regret that I am compelled to announce that the editor of The Hartford Courant, a proud and wonderful newspaper of which I am honored to count myself a staff member, has ruled that I am no longer allowed to operate a column on this web page. Despite the fact that this page is operated on my own time and at my own expense, that it does not compete with the newspaper or draw upon any of its resources, the editor has ruled that its operation is a conflict of interest. It is not my role to explain this decision, one with which I disagree deeply, but I have no option but to suspend the column or commentary activities here. The page will remain open as I explore my rights and options. The “Feedback” exchange function will continue should anyone wish to continue to discuss matters of interest. The links to other columnists, services and the Bill of Rights will also remain open for those wishing to explore them.

I am very sorry that things have reached this stage and that the promise with which this effort was launched has been extinguished. To me, it seemed like such a good idea.

Thank you for your support
Denis Horgan

I’m often asked at new media conferences why more journalists don’t have personal weblogs. Why? Here’s a perfect example: the thuggish mindset of the Courant’s editor. The notion that newspapers can exercise ownership rights over employees who choose to write and publish personal commentary on their own time, at their homes, without relying on company resources. I don’t know Denis Horgan, but I suspect he didn’t emerge as a journalist merely by virtue of his ties to the Hartford Courant (which belongs to the otherwise reasonably enlightened Tribune Co. chain). The Courant enjoys its journalistic prestige from employees like Horgan, not the other way around.

If you read Denis’ postings, you’ll see a heartfelt and insightful series of entries on dozens of topics that have nothing to do with the travel section of the Hartford Courant. But they do have to do with subjects of interest to the blogosphere — the Red Sox, conspiracy buffs, the hum of everyday life.

I’m incensed by the Courant’s hamfisted attempt at censorship here. I hope Denis exercises his rights (I believe the Courant is a Guild shop) under the law. It’s likely that he would win his case in court, if he chooses to go that route. This isn’t even a close call, given that he’s not freelancing for a competing publication, he’s blogging. I’m sure the Courant will come back with some nonsense about how employees abandon their rights when they become employees at a major media organization. That’s utter nonsense, of course.

I’ve sent emails off to [email protected] and associate editor Karen Hunter, the paper’s reader representative (phone (800) 524-4242, ext. 3902). I urge you to do the same.

Later: Here’s the take on this from Cosmo Macero Jr. of the Boston Herald.

And from Dan Gillmor. And Derek Willis in The Scoop.

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.