A Georgia Public Broadcasting employee was fired last week after a Creative Loafing story in which he discussed selling shirts that included a word cursing out Cobb County using the Atlanta Braves logo style.
According a story posted today on the Creative Loafing website, GPB radio producer Clay Bolton was let go just hours after the original CL story posted on its website. Human resources told Bolton he violated the organization's journalistic ethics policy.
He told the CL that the HR person read him the following: "The recent actions discussed with you today have impacted the professional integrity and credibility that this organization expects of all its employees in the field of radio and television journalism to comply with. In addition, this organization does not tolerate conduct from any employee that may impact, threaten or coerce another employee, a customer, or a member of the public at any time including off-duty hours."
A GPB spokeswoman said the organization does not comment publicly about personnel issues.
Bolton thinks the f-word he included on the shirt may have crossed the line and cost him his job, which he had for two years. According to his bio still on the GPB site, he grew up in Atlanta and is a 2006 Emerson College graduate. He has worked with "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and had radio stories featured on "This American Life."
Bolton declined to comment about some of the recent GPB-related controversies, including the new GSU/WRAS partnership and the hiring of Chip Rogers for $150,000 a year. (He was fired in April.) Bolton said despite being fired, he enjoyed his time there and had even been given a promotion the day before the firing.
The shirt idea was off the cuff last November, something he created just for himself. But when others wanted their own versions, he began making more and selling them for $20 a pop. In the CL story last week, he said he had sold 400 "**** Cobb County" T-shirts and has other ideas in the pipeline at his ATLtees site. He said it has opened doors to a creative community that he hopes will lead him to other gigs.
In a separate interview with Bolton, he told me he hopes to expand the T-shirt business though he expects it to remain a part-time gig. He still wants to work in the radio in some capacity. "I feel that there will be opportunities going forward," he said.
Bolton told me that he figured the story might cause him some trouble with his bosses at GPB. "I anticipated being disciplined," he said, "but I didn't think it was a fireable offense."
He said he's not so obtuse to not think commenting like that about the Braves move to Cobb County would not be construed as political. He just didn't see it as a "right leaning or left leaning issue." For Bolton, as a life-long Braves fan with ties to the city of Atlanta (he lives in Grant Park), the shirt reflects more an emotional pull than a political one.
Bolton then mused, "It was the quickest I've ever seen them act on anything."
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