by Captain R. Herring

The journalistic world has been rocked in the past two weeks by a relentless series of shocking firings at the New Glabe Gazette, one of our nation’s most well-established and reputable newspapers. The stream of sackings was unleashed two weeks ago with the unprecedented and immediate firing of Flora Meadows, head of the newspaper’s environment department. Meadows, a loyal and reliable editor who had served the paper faithfully for many years and was much loved and trusted by her team, was fired by Editor-in-Chief Sam McDonald without warning in the midst of a weekly meeting before a huge crowd of dismayed onlookers. Her crime? Merely defending the right of the environment department’s staff in researching and publishing an expose on the egregious criminal wrongdoings of a major corporation, which will go unnamed. But this article fell foul of McDonald and the editorial board, who feared that such an article might threaten their own positions and profit and as a result decided that Meadows had to be silenced. In short, Meadows’s sole mistake was to insist on the preservation of free speech and the sanctity of journalistic practice in the face of a tyrannical Editor whose primary motivation was not the service of truth but the service of self interest!

With Meadows so deplorably disposed-of McDonald may have considered his position secure, but fate has a bitter sense of humour and and in an ironical turn of the tide she found herself without a job the week after. But the causes of McDonald’s firing - as sudden, unwarranted and ruthless as Flora’s - were indeed somewhat similar. In both cases, those self-serving misers in power were putting their greed first and foremost, prioritising profit over people and creating a profit over conveying truthful and accurate information, which is the duty of a journalist to their nation, the people of the wider world, and the planet itself. In prioritising the welfare of their staff over mindless making of money (which, a generous observer might argue, influenced her decision to fire Flora) McDonald had incurred the unjust wrath of the Gazette’s owner Charles Humphreys for whom such a humane and sympathetic position was untenable so long as it undermined sheer corporate greed. As it turned out, McDonald’s attempts to protect her staff by firing Flora proved to be totally ineffective in the face of the callous whims of the Gazette’s real management, and they found themselves replaced with Aya Stillwater, a loyal servant of the money-making machine devouring journalistic reliability. McDonald has since shown remorse for his ill-considered actions and committed to reestablishing the rule of free speech and truth at the New Glabe Gazette. In this, at least, their conduct is admirable.

McDonald was not the only victim that day. It was not long before Stillwater, driven by pure personal enmity, turned her sights onto another loyal and hardworking fixture of the Gazette’s editorial team, Hydro Ivory-Starr. In another sudden and humiliating public spectacle Stillwater cruelly and baselessly accused Ivor-Starr of publishing fictitious nonsense - merely due to two recently published articles which disagreed with each other, which is an inevitable consequence of a publication which enshrines the sanctity of free speech. Ivor-Starr was unceremoniously forced off the premises, never to return, leaving a crowd of horrified onlookers. With many more firings threatened in the face on increasing employee unrest, it seems likely that this workplace reign of terror may persist in the coming weeks, with many more of those bold enough to assert their rights headed for the (metaphorical) chop. It seems that, in the new New Glabe Gazette, no self-respecting reporter committed to their art is safe from the boot of tyranny.

The implications of these unjustifiable sackings are painfully clear. It is woefully evident that the tenets of free speech and truth have lost all meaning to the Gazette’s controllers and that the mindless god of profit rules with a golden fist. The New Glabe Gazette, a national institution and once-noble purveyor of only the most accurate and well-researched information, has been brought to its knees by petty financial greed. What does this say about the trajectory our society is headed? Remember the whole deplorable process was begun when plucky journalists of the environment department attempted to publish an article condemning criminal industrial malpractice in defence of our dear planet and its ecosystems. If the New Glabe Gazette cannot be trusted to rise to the defence of that which is most important - the earth on which we stand - who can? With forests caught in infernos, temperatures surging apocalyptically, and an ongoing cataclysmic destruction of animal life - particularly cetaceans and other marine creatures due to a rampant plague of overfishing to which our governments seem determined to turn a blind eye - now more than ever we and the other beautiful creatures we share this earth with need voices committed to truth, accuracy and impartiality. The New Glabe Gazette may once have been such a voice. But it is no longer.

But all hope is not lost. A number of brave souls at the Gazette continue to resist, determined to protect our society, our waters and our earth. Recent attempts at a strike to undermine corporate authority have seen some success as the Gazette’s finest reporters rally to the cause of journalistic truth and justice. Many may lose their jobs in the face of implacable managerial tyranny, but that is a risk these brave souls are willing to take. It is heartening to know that these brave souls continue to strive for journalism’s sacred principles even in the thickest darkness. May we offer them all the support and assistance we can give them as upstanding citizens of a free society. We can only hope they succeed in their noble struggle.