By Joel Thurtell
Last week, I wrote an obituary for the bevy of monthly Detroit Free Press staff awards named after the late Free Press editor, Bob McGruder.
They were called the BOBS Awards.
Couple weeks ago, staffers received notice that the awards, which amounted to fifty bucks per staffer plus a free lunch for current winners to choose the next months BOBS awards, were cancelled till further notice.
Then came my joelontheroad.com column mourning the loss of a neat staff motivational tool. Doggone — I just heard from an insider that without explanation, another month of BOBS award winners was announced a few days AFTER my August 17 article.
Gee, would it be presumtious of me to infer cause and effect?
One person on the Free Press staff thinks JOTR brought the big guys back from the brink of awardicide. A staffer wrote, “If they had thoughts of canceling them permanently, I’m sure your blog changed their minds; after all, they don’t dare let Joel be right about something.”
No, they don’t.
Remember earlier this year when I predicted the demise of the Community Free Press? Suddenly, the bosses recanted and did mouth-to-mouth on the drowning CFPs.
Sure made a fool of me, right?
Except that you don’t see the community rags now. Their last edition was Aug. 2. Managers revived the CFPs for a few months, long enough to make it look like I was wrong, then they offed them.
Wonder if BOBS will suffer the same double murder?
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
