ETP has learned that the day after last week's Village Voice staff meeting at which concerns about newsroom diversity were raised, Village Voice Media laid off minority writer Corina Zappia. Zappia, who is half-Filipino half-Italian, worked for the internet division and reported directly to Bill Jensen, Village Voice Media Director of New Media and interim editor of the Village Voice following the dismissal of David Blum last Friday afternoon. Jensen fired Zappia on Thursday afternoon.
As previously reported, concerns about a lack of diversity on staff and in Village Voice hiring practices were raised to Blum in a story meeting last Wednesday, and his response to those concerns included comments that "some found offensive." An HR complaint was filed against Blum shortly after the meeting, but was resolved and dropped shortly thereafter.
Zappia worked for the internet division and reported directly to Bill Jensen. Reached this morning by phone, Zappia confirmed the news and said that Jensen sent her an email Wednesday night asking her to meet with him the following afternoon. Prior to that email, said Zappia, she had not had any contact with Jensen, nor did they have an email relationship (according to Zappia, he misspelled her name in the email). "It was the first time I'd ever heard of anything," Zappia said. Zappia brought the paper's diversity representative Keisha Franklin and other union representatives Tom Robbins and Lynn Yaeger to the meeting with Jensen the next afternoon where he laid her off. According to Zappia, who wrote the Voice's "Eye of the Potato" television blog as well as contributing pieces on fashion, nightlife and pop culture to the website, she had not had a negative performance review nor been given any sort of warning.
Though Zappia had spoken up in the staff meeting, she stressed that there was no connection between that and her dismissal, a fact which is borne out by reports from others familiar with the situation. "I just wanted the minority rep in [the meeting with Jensen] to have it noted that there's one less minority in there," said Zappia. "I thought that should be noted." Zappia had only kind words for her fellow staffers at the Voice: "I feel like I got a lot of great support and encouragement from the people who work there," she said. "It's been a tumultuous two years at the Voice."
Next up on ETP: What really happened at the staff meeting.
Related:
David Blum Out As Village Voice Editor [ETP]
Note: This post has been corrected. ETP originally stated that Corina Zappia was fired. She was not, she was laid off, and received a severance package accordingly.
Update: Maggie Shnayerson, spokeswoman for the Village Voice, said that neither Bill Jensen nor Mike Lacey were aware of the complaint having been dropped: "[T]hey haven't heard anything more with regards to it, so they are going with the assumption that it's pending until they do, and in light of that, I'm not going to comment on it further." According to multiple sources at the Voice, the complaint relating to Blum was resolved on Wednesday night but was broadened on Thursday to encompass the incident relating to Corina Zappia.
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