Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Being an established media activist, I hear all kinds of rumors.  And, depending on their nature, and how credible I find the individuals who pass these things along, sometimes I use them as springboards for inquiry, and sometimes I just run with the stories to see where they lead.  This latest is about a poor Enquirer employee who had decorated her cubicle—trying to bring humor to a dreary office environment—and who found herself at the focus of anonymous complaints that forced her to remove decorations from her workspace! 

Allegedly, our poor hero works in the newsroom, but is not a reporter.  She was e-mailed by her supervisor and told to take down the following decoration:

It’s pretty common for employees to decorate drab cubicles.  And while the employer has the right to dictate how their offices can or cannot be decorated, usually people are permitted to do their own thing.  You know, in the spirit of free speech—a staple of the news industry.

Anyway, the alleged e-mail from Enquirer management stated that an anonymous co-worker complained about the poster, and found it “offensive.”

Reportedly, the worker wasn’t told who complained, the exact nature of the complaint, or given a chance to appeal—she just had to remove it. That’s well within the newspaper’s rights, of course, but as one employee said, “Ninety-five percent of what we publish in the paper every day is offensive, and we do it anyway.”

The whole thing seems kinda silly to me, and shows how knee-jerk and reactionary the paper is. Instead of being concerned about substantive issues (like news quality), they get their shorts twisted over this.

Thank you for reading (and printing from) The Cincinnati Beacon.