Talking to a Blogger is Treason…

…at least that's what the execs at the Los Angeles Times think about employees who pass info to the excellent LA Observed blog, which reports:

According to multiple sources at the Times, new publisher Eddy
Hartenstein has been calling it "treason" for employees to share
information with LA Observed. Now, it's easy to dismiss his rhetoric as
beginner jitters — history has seen plenty of media publishers who
naively try to muzzle the journalists who work for them, only to learn
that it can't be done. (Never mind that it's antithetical to why the
paper exists.)

[…]So take precautions — use your personal email, our PO box,
or pick up the phone — and don't presume they aren't watching. And be
assured that I will continue to report accurately on the Times with
your help and, as always, will never divulge my sources.

1 thought on “Talking to a Blogger is Treason…”

  1. This is actually a very complicated issue. On the one hand, an employee has a duty of loyalty to his/her employer. When an employee learns information during the course of his/her employment, and passing that on to a third party is either prohibited by the employer and/or injurious to the employer, such may very well be a breach of the duty of loyalty.
    On the other hand, most states protect an individual’s freedom of speech. Note the 1st Amendment does not apply here because there is no “state action.”
    Thus the conflict, duty of loyalty verses freedom of speech. A detailed analysis of the facts and the applicable state law would be necessary to determine which prevails in a particular instance.

    Reply

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