Reporter lands job, issues press release and—gets fired

The somewhat bizarre story of Kristopher J. Brooks, the man who was canned before he even started.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

This week, Brooks landed a reporting job with the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal. Excited about the gig, Brooks wrote a press release announcing his career move and published it on his Tumblr and WordPress accounts. It noted that his first day was Apr. 23. The press release caught the attention of media blogger Jim Romenesko, who interviewed Brooks and published a post on the topic.

And now for the bad news, courtesy of a column Brooks wrote for The Huffington Post:

“Phil Freedman, the News Journal‘s local editor, called and said the newspaper is rescinding its job offer. I was being fired for using the company’s logo on my personal blog and quoting the executive editor from my job offer letter.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.