By Mondo Times editors
Boulder, Colorado USA
Posted on August 20, 2009 at 2:02pm

Why did the Hartford Courant's consumer columnist lose his job?

-- Stephanie Clifford of The New York Times reported the story on August 17, 2009:

"The Hartford Courant and its former consumer columnist, George Gombossy, agree on one thing: that Mr. Gombossy was laid off this month. But was it because he would not stop unfavorable articles about advertisers, or because his job was simply eliminated?

The disagreement addresses a delicate area in journalism. As ad revenue drops, publishing executives are willing to go far to keep advertisers happy, running front-page ads and ads that look like news articles. Mr. Gombossy is claiming that Courant executives, under pressure from advertisers, did not want him to write critical reports about them, and fired him when he would not change his stance.

But Courant executives say that their reporters are welcome to write about advertisers, and that the separation between advertising and editorial content still stands. Mr. Gombossy’s complaints are just those of a “disgruntled employee,” Richard Graziano, the paper’s publisher, said on a voicemail message."

The full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/business/media/18courant.html

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