Category Archives: Joel’s J School

More Freep layoffs

Posted on October 17, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell While I was towing our floating docks across Patten Bay closing the cottage for ’09, a good ten hours drive from Motown, managers at the Detroit Free Press were sharpening their knives. More editorial staffers will be … Continue reading →

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Michael Johnson case

Posted on October 9, 2009 by hro50ta1

The following article gives context to my JOTR column. “Michael Johnson: He had his chance.” Re-published with permission of the Benton Harbor Herald-Palladium Published 5/24/09 in Benton Harbor Herald-Palladium By SCOTT AIKEN H-P Staff Writer ST. JOSEPH — Michael Jeffrey … Continue reading →

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Those Free Press pumpkins

Posted on October 8, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell During the McCarthy period, spy-hunting journalist Whittaker Chambers hid rolls of film in a pumpkin. In the most amazing Detroit Free Press story I’ve ever read, I learned today, October 8, 2009, how the two top sleuths … Continue reading →

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Handbook for Liars

Posted on October 1, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Luke Warm, D.M. Professor of Mendacity, University of Munchausen This is the first lecture in my series on the integrity of dishonesty. As there is honor among thieves, so there should be upstandingness among liars. Gresham’s Law applies to liars: … Continue reading →

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Good for the goose, not the news

Posted on September 28, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Should truckers use computers while driving our highways? The New York Times delved into that currently-hot issue in great detail on Page One of its September 28, 2009 issue and raised a bunch of disturbing questions. Truck-drivers … Continue reading →

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Hardalee Press

Posted on September 27, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell People were wondering what I was doing all summer. Notes came in from readers chiding me for letting weeks go by without a post. Living in a place with no phone or Internet can make it hard … Continue reading →

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Looking back…

Posted on September 25, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell My old friend, Francie VanderMolen of the Berrien Springs Journal Era, sent this item from the current issue of the weekly paper: 30 Years Ago September 26, 1979 Mr. and Mrs. John Gillette of Berrien Springs have … Continue reading →

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Harvard and the hypocrites

Posted on September 18, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Back in 2007, when top brass at the Detroit (so-called) Free Press reprimanded me for donating $500 to Michigan Democrats, then threatened to fire me if I ever again dared exercise my right as a U.S. citizen … Continue reading →

Posted in Arbitration, Joel's J School, Unions | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

That hole in their story, again

Posted on May 27, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell According to the May 21, 2009 Detroit Free Press, five lawyers involved with last year’s Kwamegate text message scandal have been charged with violating the lawyers’ canon of ethics and some may even have committed crimes in a coverup. … Continue reading →

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Making money at the Times

Posted on May 25, 2009 by hro50ta1

By Joel Thurtell Thanks to Clark Hoyt’s New York Times Public Editor column of May 24, 2009, I now know how the other half makes out. Hoyt informs us that in a typical year, “star columnist” Thomas Friedman collects 75 … Continue reading →

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