Comments on Deus Ex Malcontent: Not With a Whimper, But a Bang

Just found you via a link at Wonkette. Hard to be...

2008-02-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

Just found you via a link at Wonkette. Hard to believe. Good luck to you. Looking forward to reading your blog...

Did you know that "crisis" means "opportunity" in ...

2008-02-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

Did you know that "crisis" means "opportunity" in other cultures?
This could be the start of something new, something more challenging and perhaps, more uncomfortable for awhile, but hey! This is the danger of being alive!

All my best wishes from Argentina!
Luis

This action reflects a common tendency among corpo...

2008-02-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

This action reflects a common tendency among corporates to assert ownership over the employees 24/7. When I worked for IBM, the same sorts of policies were in place....though not enforced unless you were negative about IBM or an IBM customer (pretty much every large company....) and talking politics was also not a good idea if you were chasing government contracts.

This chilling influence on all discourse should be resisted. They don't own you.

" Anonymous said... To all the folks here who say ...

2008-02-19T16:59:00.000-05:00

" Anonymous said...
To all the folks here who say his freedom of speech has been violated: Get a life. He's perfectly free to keep on speaking. He just won't be doing it in a manner that reflects on CNN.

I'm sure he knows deep down as a professional--if he attended journalism school--that he couldn't be writing what he was writing and be in the news business.

He can go ahead and sue--and lose. CNN has every right to expect its employees to not engage in conduct that will damage its product.

(Try this thought experiment: You are running a news network, and you learn that one of your reporters/producers writes a blog in which he has been attacking Obama in racist language. Are you telling me you aren't going to fire him just because he does this on his off hours and his free speech rights allow him to do so?)

-- Someone with 30 plus years in the news business

6:08 PM"

It's so cute that Jon Klein took time from his busy day of firing any number of other qualified people from CNN, to prove that his little penis isn't so little in his little mind, to post this ridiculous message on your board. He fancies that he has 30 plus years in the business but the math doesn't work out. Oh and if you go search around Klein also posts on Jossip, TVNewser, CNN reporter, ICN and many other blogs. So tell me why is it different when he does it?

Please write a book and tell every sordid story of the sneaky underhanded shit that Klein is involved in.

Your blog is consistently this household's favorit...

2008-02-17T02:28:00.000-05:00

Your blog is consistently this household's favorite read while CNN has got to be one of the most inane "news" sources (short of Fox News), cable or otherwise. Ill informed, barely articulate, talking heads reciting poorly written copy through shellacked lips is not news, it's half assed infotainment.

Sorry to bash the multi-national which provided the proverbial bacon for your family in the past, but I think you're in for a much bigger and brighter future.

I have been quitely lurking here for a year. Some...

2008-02-16T19:49:00.000-05:00

I have been quitely lurking here for a year. Sometimes nodding my head in agreement. Sometimes thinking your argument might be a little off. Always enjoying myself. Impressed with your wit and writing. Wondering how you maintained integrity in the sea you were swimming in, and thinking I probably joined you in a lifeboat on an almost daily basis. For what it's worth, you have the support of a thirtysomething Midwestern mother and professional. I will keep coming back. I don't see you sinking.

Pattie

Chez,Having read only the comments up to this poin...

2008-02-16T19:23:00.000-05:00

Chez,

Having read only the comments up to this point (head in the sand for two days, I guess), I can add no informed opinions.

I CAN say that I'm not surprised, that I never knew that CNN was your employer, that I recall no specific slams against CNN, that I've always enjoyed this blog, that I've never been a big fan of CNN, and that cream rises.

You will be fine, and probably will thrive from this. You can't buy better publicity, and if anyone comes out of this smelling like a rose it will be you, not your ex-employer.

Cheers to you and Miss Jayne, and to the new -- BABY?! Where the hell have I been? Congratulations, and KEEP WRITING.

Your reader and fan,

Laurie

Wow, Chez: you know when you're drawing the ire o...

2008-02-15T18:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, Chez: you know when you're drawing the ire of people who use 'moveon' as an insult, you've really hit the mainstream...

"WHat happened to Freedom of Speech???"Read the Bi...

2008-02-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

"WHat happened to Freedom of Speech???"

Read the Bill of Rights. "Freedom of Speech" means the right to peacefully protest and demand redress of grievances from the US government. CNN, though f'king huge, is not the US government. "Freedom of Speech" is why Code Pink can stand outside that Marine recruiting station in Berkeley and call the recruiters names w/o the recruiters stepping out and gunning them down.

"Can an employer DO that?" shrug depends on how Chez's contract with CNN is worded. Imus got a huge *undisclosed* settlement from CBS because he had a "one-free-bite" clause in his contract that CBS forgot about. Barring some arbitration clause with him or his union (if any), CNN can fire him pretty much as it pleases except as protected under Title VII.

Wow. tough call. Who is the bigger moron, you or...

2008-02-15T15:42:00.000-05:00

Wow. tough call. Who is the bigger moron, you or most of the commentators? Especially to those confused about free speech. Perhaps you could do a follow up on how your blog was removed from the internet? Or how you were thrown in prison for it. So you were a producer for a major news outlet who made sure your far left-moveon biases were documented in your blog and you wonder why you were fired? How exactly can anyone view anything you produced with the expectation it isn't slanted sharply to the left. The only surprise is why did it take so long to get rid of you.

Hey, 30 yrs plus in the business!!!TRY AND STICK A...

2008-02-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

Hey, 30 yrs plus in the business!!!

TRY AND STICK AROUND FOR ANOTHER 30 YRS. YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY LEARN SOMETHING.

That's quite a surprise attack. No warning at all...

2008-02-15T15:08:00.000-05:00

That's quite a surprise attack. No warning at all.

Freedom of speech? what's that?

You never gave away your place of employment. Well, that is... until you lost it.

I have no doubt you will find a new place of employment soon enough, if you haven't already. Thanks for the great writings, and keep it up.

to editor;After thirty years in the business, you ...

2008-02-15T13:03:00.000-05:00

to editor;

After thirty years in the business, you surely have worked under an editor who reviewed your work and-- well-- edited it for content, style, grammar, and bias.
If your media outlet were publishing your work as its content without attribution to you, then your editor must have gleaned it for any trace of your bias. If Chez produced "product" for CNN that went on air containing Chez' bias or point of view, then fire the fucking editor!

If the producer is producing each segment in conformity with his or her editor's rules and requirements, why would the editor care about the producer's character, bias, point of view, race, religion, sexual preference, mating habits, drinking habits, hair style, nerdiness, or other such matters? If CNN fired him because he is a fuck up or an office prick, then Chez has no beef with CNN. But, if they fired him for the content of his blog, and cannot cite any incidence of the content of the blog affecting his work product, then he has a beef--- a big one.

I do not know you, editor. My personal impression from your two comments on this post is that you believe that your thirty years in the media has vested you with a certain grace supposedly earned by your adherence to immutable journalistic "principles." Chez cannot enter such state of grace becasue of his display of partisanship or bias outside his job. You wouldn't happen to be a Jesuit, would you?

editor,The reason one might want to conjure to jus...

2008-02-15T11:27:00.000-05:00

editor,

The reason one might want to conjure to justify throwing this author into prison, versus the demonstrable reasons that already exist for prosecuting actual known criminals, are quite different indeed.

CNN?, does anyone actually watch that stuff?, I gu...

2008-02-15T08:17:00.000-05:00

CNN?, does anyone actually watch that stuff?, I guess they do...anyway, sorry to hear that you lost your job. Great blog, you're sure to find success elsewhere.

""I wake up every morning baffled as to why Americ...

2008-02-15T00:45:00.000-05:00

""I wake up every morning baffled as to why America hasn't thrown George Bush and Dick Cheney in prison.""

Ror the same reason we haven't thrown your silly rear-end in prison.

Because we are a great country, and most of us respect our leaders even when we disagree with them, and we tolerate loonies like you who give aid and comfort to our enemies.

"I wake up every morning baffled as to why Al queda hasn't given you an award for excellence".

There, I fixed it for you.

Summary? You should have NO PROBLEM GETTING A JOB WITH AL JAZEERA.

Sucks, man. But i'm sure Arianna can hook you up w...

2008-02-15T00:37:00.000-05:00

Sucks, man. But i'm sure Arianna can hook you up with something even better. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

I just sent this letter to CNN. Probably trying to empty the ocean with a teacup, but i had to say *something*.

-----

Congratulations, CNN. You've managed to erase whatever delusions I used to harbor about you being one of the last semi respectable news networks. That's great, you see, because hope is so time consuming. Nihlism is easier, takes less effort. I have long been a detractor of Fox for less than objective reporting, and think that USA today tends a bit towards the sensationalist side. I very rarely watch the news, due to my schedule, and more often than not, get my news from your website. I had previously prided your network on responsibility, objectivity, and reasonably thorough reporting. Now I know I needen't have bothered.

It comes to my attention that you have let go a gentleman named Chez Pazienza. I am not a personal friend of his. I have spoken with him on a handful occasions, and consider him to be intelligent, and reasonably amusing. I suspect that were we to socialize, we'd get along well, but I have no personal energies invested in either his success or his failure. So this letter is not an ignorant, uneducated, "You jerks, you fired my buddy, you stink!" letter.

No, I am only familiar with him for the same reason that you canned him. His blog-column, "Deus Ex Malcontent". And I have to ask- what in blazes are you people thinking?

Not only are you teetering dangerously on the edge of eroding the very freedoms you as journalists operate under, the unalienable rights to freedom of speech and expression, but you may have just lost one of the few people on your team that actually still cherishes and fights to keep alive honesty, intelligence, relevance, and integrity in network news.

What? Were his occasionally detrimental remarks towards various networks he's been employed at, yours included, a sign of "not being a team player"? Need he drink the Kool-aid for you to consider him an asset? Perhaps, instead of firing him for making the critical mistake of having a brain, a conscience, and a soul, you could have used those traits to improve and refine the very systems he was not poking, but pointing out the holes in.

In the time that I have been enjoying his column, I have never known him to needlessly fling around negativity for the sake of throwing a tantrum to make himself feel better about something. If he has something defamatory to say on a subject, it is because he believes that it can, and should, be improved.

You at CNN have lost a major fire for productivity and positive change. You have thoughtlessly discarded a bright and passionate man with multiple Emmys, who could have been a benefit to your team. In your closed-minded ignorance, you wasted an opportunity to address the various issues he had brought up in his "personal writings". I'm certain that if asked, Chez would have been more than willing to work WITH you, rather than against you, in bettering your content and practices.

And in the process, you've become the very punchline to the joke he had been trying to make.

How absurd! What happened to freedom of speech?? ...

2008-02-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

How absurd! What happened to freedom of speech?? I have been reading your blog for a while and had no idea which network/news organization you were with.

Since when can employers get away with stuff like this?? Not being allowed to write what you want on a personal blog?

I can't resist. I just LOVE thought experiments: O...

2008-02-14T18:57:00.000-05:00

I can't resist. I just LOVE thought experiments:

Of course I would NOT presume that hiring a talented writer who more than adequately produces good (read: "ostensibly informative") content for my network during business hours under my roof, logically extends into the realm of controlling, dominating, or even attempting to influence, any other avocation he or she may take (for free), using his or her spare time, that might involve him or her expressing the occasional political commentary, music review, personal anecdote...

...or satirical humour, which might perhaps borrow and personalize material from other well-known humorists like, say, a brilliant young African-American comedian named Dave Chapelle...

...whether or not some people who might read said satirical humour might be too dense, or out of touch with popular culture, to get the fucking joke, and reach absurd, over-arching, and unresearched conclusions.

No, sir. I definitely would not behave that way at all. That's the ignorant rationalization of Dickensian turn-of-the-19th-century sweat shop mentality.

Welcome to the internet, CNN.

--Someone with 42 years of walking upright with a brain in my skull cavity.

To all the folks here who say his freedom of speec...

2008-02-14T18:08:00.000-05:00

To all the folks here who say his freedom of speech has been violated: Get a life. He's perfectly free to keep on speaking. He just won't be doing it in a manner that reflects on CNN.

I'm sure he knows deep down as a professional--if he attended journalism school--that he couldn't be writing what he was writing and be in the news business.

He can go ahead and sue--and lose. CNN has every right to expect its employees to not engage in conduct that will damage its product.

(Try this thought experiment: You are running a news network, and you learn that one of your reporters/producers writes a blog in which he has been attacking Obama in racist language. Are you telling me you aren't going to fire him just because he does this on his off hours and his free speech rights allow him to do so?)

-- Someone with 30 plus years in the news business

I am happier than ever that I decided to abandon C...

2008-02-14T17:54:00.000-05:00

I am happier than ever that I decided to abandon CNN for MSNBC. CNN is getting over-populated with (to use a scientific term) dweebs. Best wishes on your future plans.

You're a sad, pathetic joke.

2008-02-14T17:46:00.000-05:00

You're a sad, pathetic joke.

Best of luck to you. I do hope that you pursue th...

2008-02-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

Best of luck to you. I do hope that you pursue this matter sufficiently to draw news attention to the situation. This is a deeply disturbing move by CNN and the spotlight should be on them.

I'm sure the extra attention for you wouldn't hurt either depending on what you want to pursue next.

No good deed goes unpunished. CONGRATULATIONS!!! A...

2008-02-14T16:51:00.000-05:00

No good deed goes unpunished.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Aside from the obvious sucky fact that a single income in NYC blows.

Hey, here’s a positive thought - maybe you can get a job that doesn't require you to get up at 3am? (How did you do it for so long?) Maybe you can produce some children's programming. (hee-hee!) Maybe you can write for a living because you obviously have the talent and quite a following. Can you get paid to blog?

As much as you may hate the job, it just never feels good to be fired, so I truly am sorry. Commiserations and congratulations are in order. And in that order too.

We are thinking of you back here in Atlanta – where the nightmare began.

Hugs

Good luck with whatever you choose to do about thi...

2008-02-14T16:27:00.000-05:00

Good luck with whatever you choose to do about this.

I added your blog to my blog's links.

Congrats on the baby as well.