It's a fact of life that employees who criticize their employers do so at their peril, but if anyone had cause to speak out about working conditions, it was now-former Washington Times reporter Julia Duin. As you no doubt know, the paper has been going through a grueling and tumultuous period of massive layoffs and high-level shake-ups.
Duin's sin, however, was to tell the Washington Post's Ian Shapira that the Times newsroom has basically succumbed to a terrifyingly Hobbesean level of disarray.
"The feeling everyone feels is that it's a totally rudderless ship. Nobody knows who's running it. Is it the board of directors? We don't know. There was a three-foot-long black snake in the main conference room the other day. We have snakes in the newsroom -- the real live variety, at least. One of the security people gallantly removed it."
So, okay, on the one hand, she called the Times "a rudderless ship." But in her defense, THERE WAS A FREAKING REAL-LIVE SNAKE IN THEIR NEWSROOM.
Shapira speculates that Duin was laid off for being honest:
Duin, 54, said she was dismissed Tuesday, a decision that she believes came in retaliation for her published comments about the paper. To make matters even more difficult, Duin was given the news while her five-year-old daughter Olivia was visiting the newsroom. On top of that, Duin had to pack up her office belongings while on crutches, the result of a recent foot injury.
[...]
Duin says she never intended to speak ill of the employer she has been loyal to for so many years: "I don't want people to think I was against my employer. All I wanted to do was tell the truth. Why is that such a hard thing among journalists?"
Obviously, no one knows for sure why Duin was laid off. The essential rudderlessness of the paper has already been extensively reported on, so it's hardly surprising news. And via DCist, it turns out that the snake infestation had already been publicly documented by Times reporter John Haydon.
[Hat Tip: Pareene]
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