Journatic paid staffers to keep quiet about Tribune deal
Peter Behle
Michael Miner’s story about the Chicago Tribune-Journatic deal includes this gem: About a month ago, Journatic executive editor Peter Behle sent employees a notice that said in part, “Reporters will be sniffing around — and they are not authorized to talk with anyone about Journatic under any circumstances. Better yet, if you receive a reporter inquiry and tell us about it (without responding), we’ll pay you a $50 bonus.”
Miner points out:
That’s good money for dropping a dime. A Journatic writer would have to write 13 stories to earn as much, and that’s even if they were the important $4 stories.
* Tribune Co. does a deal with Journatic (Chicago Reader)
* Journatic expected to work with Baltimore Sun and LAT, too (Crain’s)
* “Tribune was smart to turn to Journatic for help with TribLocal” (Street Fight)
A smart reporter would get his/her reporter buddies at other outlets to call and split the “bonus.”
Really, beyond JR, Poynter and Chicago peeps, who’s going to give a sh*t about this?
Anyone who gives a sh*t about news, democracy, decency or a living wage, to begin with.
I meant about covering Journatic. It’s not exactly on my beat.
You’ve now written two posts complaining about the fact that this journalism story is being written about on a journalism blog, but I’m still in the dark as to what your complaint is.
It’s not on your beat? What does that mean?