ESPN's Ron Franklin and WABC-TVs Heidi Jones. He's gone;She's suspended. Really?

[Studio20]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5988804


So the four letter network decides to end a mans three decade career over a second "sweet baby" off air reference to a female employee, who instead of keeping it in house, actually emailed USA Today....yet WABC-TV opts to keep a female meterologist who falsely reported not one, but two incidents of rape...rape being the absolute worst accusation a woman can make to another human being...Ms Jones at first admitted the false report, yet in court her lawyer says she'll now fight the charges of false reporting.

Franklin's comments, while rude and unwarranted cost no one anything. Jones' false reporting most likely cost the NYPD a good chunk of change and diverted officers and detectives from real crimes.

And she says she did it for attention.

An on air TV personality thats on five nights a week on station in the number one market in the country...needs attention? And shes still employed? Really?

As much as I miss not being in the media business, I'm glad I don't have to work with people like ESPN's Jeannine Edwards and WABC's Heidi Jones.

 

[BRNout]

This is what they call "a teachable moment" when we all have some insight into where our society is headed. In this case, we see where the priorities of those who now run things are.

It's a very sad (and scary) state of affairs.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

I agree with your post completely. What is even more interesting is that they both cash(ed) the same paycheck with Mouse ears as the background illustration.

I will make one correction: Heidi Jones was a weekend meteorologist at WABC-TV. Her bio is gone from the station's website, so it's safe to assume she won't be reinstated.

 

[DToTheJ]

That is really putting things into perspective, Studio20. Let's not forget that ESPN did dismiss Sean Salisbury not too long after a Favre-esque incident some years ago... but when I was listening to an ESPN Radio host last week talk about Favre's legacy and pointed out that if Favre were an ESPN employee, he wouldn't be there anymore, the Salisbury thing immediately comes to mind...

 

[Nate Wesley]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5988804


So the four letter network decides to end a mans three decade career over a second "sweet baby" off air reference to a female employee, who instead of keeping it in house, actually emailed USA Today....yet WABC-TV opts to keep a female meterologist who falsely reported not one, but two incidents of rape...rape being the absolute worst accusation a woman can make to another human being...Ms Jones at first admitted the false report, yet in court her lawyer says she'll now fight the charges of false reporting.

Franklin's comments, while rude and unwarranted cost no one anything. Jones' false reporting most likely cost the NYPD a good chunk of change and diverted officers and detectives from real crimes.

And she says she did it for attention.

An on air TV personality thats on five nights a week on station in the number one market in the country...needs attention? And shes still employed? Really?

As much as I miss not being in the media business, I'm glad I don't have to work with people like ESPN's Jeannine Edwards and WABC's Heidi Jones.

The two situations aren't the same. One has to do with potential workplace and co-worker hostility, the other involves the legal system. Ron Franklin didn't get arrested for being a jackass, he just lost his job.

And considering Franklin had been reprimanded for ON-AIR condescension to another female reporter years earlier--dummy on him. ESPN & Disney probably appreciates having one less well-paying contract to deal with.

 

[Nate Wesley]

This is what they call "a teachable moment" when we all have some insight into where our society is headed. In this case, we see where the priorities of those who now run things are.

It's a very sad (and scary) state of affairs.

Oh please, spare us the 'no country for old white guys' spiel. Change comes with the times...and one of those changes includes not being the office pig to a fellow co-worker. If you can't or won't adjust your mode of dealing with people in order to please your employer, you've got no one else to blame for the sanctions you face.

Ron Franklin is not some sacred cow, and he's certainly not a victim. He can always go work for Randy Michaels...assuming he's allowed to manage anything higher than an ad campaign for a Dairy Queen.

 

[stationless listener]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5988804


So the four letter network decides to end a mans three decade career over a second "sweet baby" off air reference to a female employee, who instead of keeping it in house, actually emailed USA Today....yet WABC-TV opts to keep a female meterologist who falsely reported not one, but two incidents of rape...rape being the absolute worst accusation a woman can make to another human being...Ms Jones at first admitted the false report, yet in court her lawyer says she'll now fight the charges of false reporting.

Franklin's comments, while rude and unwarranted cost no one anything. Jones' false reporting most likely cost the NYPD a good chunk of change and diverted officers and detectives from real crimes.

And she says she did it for attention.

An on air TV personality thats on five nights a week on station in the number one market in the country...needs attention? And shes still employed? Really?

As much as I miss not being in the media business, I'm glad I don't have to work with people like ESPN's Jeannine Edwards and WABC's Heidi Jones.

The two situations aren't the same. One has to do with potential workplace and co-worker hostility, the other involves the legal system. Ron Franklin didn't get arrested for being a jackass, he just lost his job.

And considering Franklin had been reprimanded for ON-AIR condescension to another female reporter years earlier--dummy on him. ESPN & Disney probably appreciates having one less well-paying contract to deal with.

I understand your point. The thing you have to realize, though, is that workplaces are increasingly skitty when it comes to employees who find themselves into trouble, whether they did anything to put themselves there or not, because their lawyers advise them to get rid of them quickly to avoid lawsuits. It goes to the issue of how our civil law makes it so easy for anyone to sue, for any number of reasons. That's how corporations become virtual "no fun zones" when it comes to employee behavior. It's one thing when they make those rules. However, those aren't really their rules but those of their advisers...lawyers, to put it succinctly.

 

[BRNout]

This is what they call "a teachable moment" when we all have some insight into where our society is headed. In this case, we see where the priorities of those who now run things are.

It's a very sad (and scary) state of affairs.

Oh please, spare us the 'no country for old white guys' spiel. Change comes with the times...and one of those changes includes not being the office pig to a fellow co-worker. If you can't or won't adjust your mode of dealing with people in order to please your employer, you've got no one else to blame for the sanctions you face.

Ron Franklin is not some sacred cow, and he's certainly not a victim. He can always go work for Randy Michaels...assuming he's allowed to manage anything higher than an ad campaign for a Dairy Queen.

And please spare us your Reverend Wright imitation! :

Being an a_hole during a staff meeting shouldn't be grounds for firing, but being implicated in a crime involving filing a false (and very public) police report should definitely be. And probably is under her contract.

It's as simple as this: some people are more equal than others. In the old days, that favored white males; today it's the other way around. So we have the SAME company giving someone who is implicated in a felony one level of treatment while another is summarily fired for simply being a jerk. That's the issue here. Heidi Jones can go and work at Dairy Queen too. But keep her away from the till.

Yeah, times do change Nate. I'll remind you of that when we're all paying taxes to Beijing thanks to the idiotic decisions made over the past couple of years.

 

[DToTheJ]

For what it's worth, here is an update on the case of the Susan Smith of New York City news:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/hail_of_liar_xLXLaP8yoNL3m7y6SpKinN
http://gothamist.com/2011/01/06/cops_actually_questioned_hispanic_m.php

 

[Nate Wesley]

So we have the SAME company giving someone who is implicated in a felony one level of treatment while another is summarily fired for simply being a jerk. That's the issue here. Heidi Jones can go and work at Dairy Queen too. But keep her away from the till.

You want join the two as one great double standard, and they just aren't equitable. The Heidi Jones situation involves law enforcement, and WABC's general management team is probably waiting for some things to shake out before terminating her employment. And as I've noted before--this is not Ron Franklin's first dumb comment incident. It's ESPN's prerogative that their on-air talent not make news in that way, so I've got no problem with those bosses deciding he's too much of a liability.

It's as simple as this: some people are more equal than others. In the old days, that favored white males; today it's the other way around.

And I'm here to remind you how much of a crock that is. If there was a unified front of women and brown people having their own good-ol-homie or good-ol-sista networks, marginalizing and micro-managing the employment and mobility of people like yourself--it'd be a helluva lot easier to recognize, and we wouldn't be having annual spatfests over affirmative action, diversity/sensitivity training, etc.

We're in the midst of another coaching carousel in pro football, and there is more annual talk radio anger over the Rooney Rule's mere existence than there is the rule's intended goal. That doesn't seem like the sort of environment where one seriously worries about women and minorities having overly concentrated power.

 

[radioguy555]

ESPN also fired baseball analyst Harold Reynolds a few years back for sexual harassment. Obviously they take such matters pretty seriously (although I've heard rumors about Mike Tirico's behavior from back in the early '90s and he's now the big name at the network). It's just a shame a guy like Ron Franklin ended his tenure there on such a bad note. He was one of the better announcers.