(2/21) In short, I was fired following my reluctance to sign a document agreeing to punishments placed upon me. They included: limiting my social media use to only share CCM stories/reach out to sources and…
(3/21)…Requiring me to receive approval from my editor to reach out to a source more than 3 times. (More on that later). I was able to slightly negotiate out words like “harassment” and “personal agenda,” however the list of reprimands themselves seemed non-negotiable.
(4/21) My publisher told me I had two options: Sign the document or resign. He had previously agreed to let me turn the document in on Monday (today). On Friday, I said I would consider signing the document on Monday.
I was fired that afternoon.
(5/21) I was willing to sign the disciplinary document, despite my disagreements, with the condition that my company show support for me, on my behalf, in a battle for information I had with the Town of Parker. They refused.
(6/21) The disciplinary document CCM wanted me to sign followed actions I had made on social media Friday morning. I tweeted 3 screenshots of email/text conversations I had with Parker officials and Mayor Jeff Toborg.
(7/21) My intention was to report my difficulties getting in direct contact with Mayor Toborg for the past 15 days. Toborg had gone silent—not returning phone calls or text messages—following a Jan. 10 incident where he allegedly posted controversial material on social media.
(8/21) Per my editor’s request, I deleted the tweets of the screenshot conversations roughly three hours after posting.
The screenshots included the town’s email to set up a phone call with the mayor next week (this week)…
(9/21) another one included a town email saying the mayor does not have to talk to me if I continued to act “unprofessionally.” This was in response to my refusal to give them preliminary questions for an interview with the mayor.
(10/21) Upon receiving a bounce-back email that the communications director was out of the office until next week, I tweeted that the communications director was on vacation. The comms director engaged from their personal profile to clarify their point, and I retweeted.
(11/21) My editor and publisher said I intended to use the platform to embarrass/shame the public officials as a means to get them to return my call. I felt I had exhausted all other avenues and, after two weeks of nothing, I was justified in my actions.
(12/21) I understand what I did embarrassed the people involved. I am not a vengeful reporter. I am deeply sorry to those who were offended. However, I do not feel my actions warranted such a damning reprimand upon myself.
(13/21) The document included aspects of my job that had nothing to do w/ the incident, including meeting my story quota and limiting errors in my stories.
(14/21) I had trouble w/ productivity in the past and accepted reprimands accordingly. I had long since remedied those problems, I felt. They were in no way related to the current problem I had with the town.
(15/21) The list of punishments included things like limiting misspellings, grammar mistakes and other aspects I felt were my editor’s responsibility to check.
CCM let me go to preserve its relationship with the town’s communications dept.
(16/21) I regret the way my time with CCM ended. I stand by refusal to sign the disciplinary document against me.
Now time for the feelings…
(17/21) In hindsight, maybe it was better to accept the resignation. However, I truly love the reporters I worked alongside and the people I touched with my work and I did not want to quit. I was conflicted.
(18/21) Moreover, I felt proud to contribute to a company that launched my career as a journalist.
I feel betrayed by my editor and publisher, who did not offer support for me in this conflict I had with the town.
(19/21) I feel awful to have let my coworkers down, as well as my readers in Parker, Lone Tree and throughout Douglas County.
(20/21) That is pretty much it. Of course, like anything, there is so much context to this situation that I cannot possibly communicate through Twitter. I hope this answered some questions people had about my sudden departure.
(21/21) I plan on continuing my career as a journalist as soon as possible. I have a full heart, clear head and the same passion for reporting that I did three days ago.
Thank you to everyone for the support I have received. I am not done fighting.
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