The Chattanooga Times Free Press has fired an editor for titling a recent editorial “Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President” the morning of the president’s speech in the city. The headline has been changed on the paper’s website and now reads ”President Obama’s policies have harmed Chattanooga enough.”
According to the newspaper, editor Drew Johnson changed the original headline approved for publication, and management deemed the one he ultimately used “inappropriate.” In a statement, the Free Press made it clear that Johnson’s firing “had nothing to do with the content of the editorial,” which criticized the president’s past job plans and his policies’ negative impact on Chattanooga.
Johnson took to Twitter after his termination earlier today:
I just became the first person in the history of newspapers to be fired for writing a paper’s most-read article. http://t.co/BPOTzihZoT
— Drew Johnson (@Drews_Views) August 1, 2013
Any time the paper wanted to change the headline online (which is how most people read the editorial), they could’ve.
— Drew Johnson (@Drews_Views) August 1, 2013
The policy I “broke” did not exist when I “broke” it. It was created after people complained about the headline & was applied retroactively.
— Drew Johnson (@Drews_Views) August 1, 2013
I need a job.Resume: Columnist & opinion pg editor, founded thriving free market think tank, exposed Al Gore’s home electricity consumption
— Drew Johnson (@Drews_Views) August 1, 2013