As someone who graduated from two of Boston's finer universities with both a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters, worked while in school there for two different radio stations and as someone whose ancestry descends from the Pilgrims and the Winthrop Fleet, I always looked up to Boston as a beacon of truth, a bastion of integrity, the genesis-point of my family on this continent and a focal point of courage; I am now, unfortunately, embarassed by one of Boston's "nooz stayshuns" and the egregious actions of its denizens. (I can't even, in good conscience, call WBZ/AM a "news station") How the employees of that station can stay silent in the face of this travesty mystifies me, as well.
Here's the story from www.allaccess.com; perhaps the FBI will be paying THEM a visit for telling the truth:
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From www.allaccess.com, Thursday, 4 August, 2005, "Net News":
As hinted WEDNESDAY (8/3), exclusively on ALL ACCESS, INFINITY News-Talk WBZ-A/BOSTON reporter FLO JONIC has been fired after a dispute with management over the spiking of a story on security at BOSTON's FBI building when the FBI told the station not to run the story.
ALL ACCESS hears that JONIC uncovered serious security flaws at the ONE CENTER PLAZA building, including being able to enter the building without significant security screening and the presence of a car rental agency on the ground floor, but that the FBI told station and INFINITY management that the story would be dangerous and an aid to terrorists by identifying weaknesses in security, and the story was not aired.
JONIC's response was to complain to PD PETER CASEY and Asst. ND PAUL CONNEARNEY about the spiking via an e-mail that circulated among the staff, after which she was fired.
JONIC joined WBZ in 1993 as a freelancer while also working at WB affiliate WLVI-TV (WB 56) and NEW ENGLAND CABLE NEWS as a reporter, joining 'BZ fulltime in 1996.
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I wish Ms. Jonic much success in the near-term as I'm sure a station with integrity will hire her and even more success to her and her attorneys as they sue the pants off Infinity/WBZ-AM for wrongful termination.
I understand the need for security in this post-9/11 world, but, to be fired for highlighting the shortcomings of those who are charged with protecting us seems more a case of "shooting the messenger" rather than of fixing the problem.
Has Radio/2005 become the tool of the bungling bureaucrats rather than being the ones who keep them honest? Ms. Jonic seems to be the sacrificial victim of those who belong to the former group.
Nathan Hale weeps.
Here's the story from www.allaccess.com; perhaps the FBI will be paying THEM a visit for telling the truth:
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From www.allaccess.com, Thursday, 4 August, 2005, "Net News":
As hinted WEDNESDAY (8/3), exclusively on ALL ACCESS, INFINITY News-Talk WBZ-A/BOSTON reporter FLO JONIC has been fired after a dispute with management over the spiking of a story on security at BOSTON's FBI building when the FBI told the station not to run the story.
ALL ACCESS hears that JONIC uncovered serious security flaws at the ONE CENTER PLAZA building, including being able to enter the building without significant security screening and the presence of a car rental agency on the ground floor, but that the FBI told station and INFINITY management that the story would be dangerous and an aid to terrorists by identifying weaknesses in security, and the story was not aired.
JONIC's response was to complain to PD PETER CASEY and Asst. ND PAUL CONNEARNEY about the spiking via an e-mail that circulated among the staff, after which she was fired.
JONIC joined WBZ in 1993 as a freelancer while also working at WB affiliate WLVI-TV (WB 56) and NEW ENGLAND CABLE NEWS as a reporter, joining 'BZ fulltime in 1996.
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I wish Ms. Jonic much success in the near-term as I'm sure a station with integrity will hire her and even more success to her and her attorneys as they sue the pants off Infinity/WBZ-AM for wrongful termination.
I understand the need for security in this post-9/11 world, but, to be fired for highlighting the shortcomings of those who are charged with protecting us seems more a case of "shooting the messenger" rather than of fixing the problem.
Has Radio/2005 become the tool of the bungling bureaucrats rather than being the ones who keep them honest? Ms. Jonic seems to be the sacrificial victim of those who belong to the former group.
Nathan Hale weeps.