A new Audi for a newspaper exec? A gag order for FJ employees?

Early today someone posted a comment (which I can't find because it was left on a much earlier post) that a current Booth executive has recently traded in an American mid-range car and purchased a very expensive "$80,000" Audi sports car which employees, all who have taken huge pay cuts, now see parked in a newspaper parking lot.

The commenter mentioned that the sight of the car has caused at least some employees extreme disgust as they ponder their new lives under tightened budgets and friends who are now gone through layoffs.

I'm not going to get any more specific that that until I get more information - or hopefully a photo of the vehicle - and at this point will assume that the report may be false. Do they make Audis in Michigan now? The foreign car aspect of this story is as troubling to me as the obvious tone deafness such a purchase would signal, again, if true.

Making things more difficult to get news about the newspaper is the new "Free From Editor" clause in the buyouts and severance papers of recently severed employees.

This is rich. A newspaper, a business that makes a living (although not much of one anymore) demanding transparency and frankness from everyone else, has inserted a "gag" (my word) order for employees leaving the paper saying they are prohibited from speaking ill of their former employer. If they do, they risk financial sanctions from the company.

The irony of that needs no further discussion from me.

Again, employees - past or present - are free to post here, anonymously if need be, as long as their comments are within loose civil bounds, don't contain obscenities, don't mention full names of people (with some rare exceptions) and that don't involve the families of employees or other personal, non-newspaper issues.

If you post anonymously (or make up a fake name) rest assured I do not see any e-mail address or direct link to you. I'm still trying to figure out who "inky" is and they have been commenting here since the beginning. I do get a Google Analytics report that tells me generally, by city, where posts are coming from. So far people from 275 Michigan cities, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 75 other countries have stopped by.

Do NOT post from work and if you see the Audi parked anywhere, let a friend or non-Journal employee snap the photo for me.

Help me on the comments

1.) No comments will be posted here on personal issues related to family leaves or employee's children. That is out of bounds. So please refrain from leaving any more of those.

2.) When you leave a comment on a post that is more than 4-5 days old, please put a note in the comment about what post you are commenting on. Today someone posted about the Flint Journal pulling Doonesbury back in 1995 or 1996. They wanted to know the reason. I posted the comment, but it had to be from a post two or three weeks or more old because I couldn't find it.

I remember some controversy back in the 1990s over Doonesbury's rather tough treatment of Bob Dole and his war record during the 96 campaign and also the use of a sexually explicit term in relation to a situation about then President Bill Clinton. If the cartoon was pulled in 95 or 96 it could not have been related to Bill Clinton's situation.

If anyone remembers why the Flint Journal pulled Doonesbury, please feel free to respond.

This one is going to leave a mark

Someone named William Fagan is not happy that his company was evicted from their downtown office space by AnnArbor.com. Here is the comment he left on the following AnnArbor.com post.

William Fagan in June 4, 2009 8:17 PM
Hi Stephanie,
I have 7 "local professionals" who would be interested in being on the advisory panel that you mentioned. All seven are staff members of my company- Fuji Arts. We're being displaced by AnnArbor.com's take over of our downtown office. We were told that AA.com refused to share the floor and made an "all or nothing deal" that forced us out. So, my first bit of advice would be- if you want to be a part of the "community" don't start by forcing successful companies out of their spaces.
William Fagan
Fuji Arts Inc.
301 E. Liberty Suite 725

A note about comments

Today I received a comment which started with this statement:

"Most likely, this comment isn't going to see the light of day, but here it is anyway ... the salaries are going to be what the salaries are. There's too many people who are out of work and need a job. It will be a personal decision as to whether they want to work for X wage or not. We'll go through the process and make our own decisions."

That's a rookie letter-to-the-editor trick to make sure a letter gets published. This blog has rarely, less than ten times in more than 1,000 comments, rejected comments submitted. For the record here is the criteria that will get your comment rejected:

1.) Obscenity
2.) Using someone's full name (there have been a couple exceptions)
3.) Direct or implied threats of violence to any person
4.) Comments so far off topic as to be ridiculous (so far, not happened)
5.) If you want more latitude to make outrageous statements, sign your name.

One new rule, as of today:

If you write something like: "I know this comment will likely never see the light of day..." it won't.