Monday, February 15, 2010
News Atlanta Progressive News fires reporter for trying to be objective
Posted By Andisheh Nouraee @andishehnouraee on Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 10:16 PM
Atlanta Progressive News has parted ways with long-serving senior staff writer Jonathan Springston. Apparently, Springston's affinity for fact-based reporting clashed with Cardinale's vision.
And, no, that's not sarcasm.
In an e-mail statement, editor Matthew Cardinale says Springston was asked to leave APN last week "because he held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News."
Cardinale says he has no plans to fill the position left vacant by Springston's exit. His full statement to CL appears after the jump.
####APN RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS FROM CREATIVE LOAFING ATLANTA REGARDING JONATHAN SPRINGSTON
Atlanta Progressive News was not planning to make any public statements regarding Jonathan Springston's departure from Atlanta Progressive News until having been contacted by Andisheh Nouaree at Creative Loafing with the news agency's threat of publishing a blog entry about it.
It should be noted that Nouaree's motives in writing this piece are questionable, seeing as how he has made negative statements about APN's Editor in the past.
Jonathan Springston served as Staff Writer, then Senior Staff Writer for a total of four years. During that time, he has grown as a writer and has produced a lot of content which has served to inform our readership on issues ranging from Troy Davis to Grady Hospital.
As many of our readers know, we are in the midst of a major website redesign and relaunch that will result in new content and new forms of content, as well as tools to empower our readers to meaningfully participate in the democratic process. Part of that has meant going back to our core mission and re-examining how every part of what we do is consistent with, and advances, that mission.
In the end, we had to make a very difficult decision to move forward as a publication without Jonathan Springston. Last Wednesday, we informed him it seemed more appropriate if he found work with another publication or started his own publication.
At a very fundamental, core level, Springston did not share our vision for a news publication with a progressive perspective. He held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News. It just wasn't the right fit.
We have already begun drafting a more programmatic statement on our editorial position regarding objectivity, inter-subjectivity, and news. To be sure, I've commented on Creative Loafing's blog previously about such issues.
In the meantime, here is some information from our Frequently Asked Questions page:
"Progressive news is news that brings us closer to universal health care, living wages, affordable housing, peace, a healthy environment, and voting systems we can trust.
We provide news of concern to working families, and therefore, our writing is geared toward a specific audience. Fortunately, our audience--working families--comprises a majority of people in the United States who are largely ignored by corporate media sources.
We believe there is no such thing as objective news. Typically, mainstream media presents itself as objective but is actually skewed towards promoting the corporate agenda of the ultra-wealthy.
APN, on the other hand, does not pretend to be objective. We believe that our news coverage is fair and that our progressive principles are fair. We aim when possible to give voice to all sides, but aim to provide something different than what is already provided by corporate sources."
We wish Mr. Springston the best of luck in his future endeavors and in fact we think he would be a good candidate for Creative Loafing or even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Also in response to the other question from Mr. Nouaree: we will currently not have anyone in the Senior Staff Writer position, although we have a handful of staff writers. Gloria Tatum, an activist and corporate media critic, recently joined our staff as well.
We are always seeking additional writers and contributors, and the new website coming soon will make it easier for people to submit content.
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