Oregon Media Insiders

Gee.

Do you work in a place where your employer pushes you to do unethical work, and then forces you to do it (i.e., in a journalist's context, print lies and put your name on it, without consulting you?) And do you suspect that his recent actions indicate that he will continue to do just that, and in fact, do it often and with impunity if you lack the guts to complain now?

And do you further work in a place where you suspect that your boss will fire you, at the least, and maybe look for ways to destroy your reputation while he's at it, if you raise those kinds of concerns?

Think you might want to consider your response before you just walk in and flat-out resign?

If not, maybe you're a purer and better soul than I am.

I chose to think it through, so I could lay out my concerns for my employer in the clearest way possible, if for no other reason than to give them a chance to reconsider a management style/tactic/approach that was resulting in what I thought to be dishonest journalism.

The result? Fired. And my employer looked for ways to destroy my reputation while he was at it.

So I guess my decision to "just stay away from work for two days unannounced without taking vacation time, without calling in sick" was pretty feckless, in retrospect.

Oh, well. I tried.

The Employment Department didn't hesitate, by the way. They granted my claim for benefits within 10 days, ruling that I was "discharged, but not for misconduct connected with work."

In other words -- and I hope other newspaper types hear this -- it's not "misconduct" to accuse you supervisors of slanting your coverage. If you think it's really happening, it is, in fact, a fundamental responsibility of your job to complain, to look for solutions that will keep it from happening in the future, and to be willing to quit or be fired if your bosses won't a) hear your concerns or b) do anything to change.

And if "management really doesn't like a guy"?

Oh well. It's your job to be honest. Not to be liked.

Cheers.