Ex-Cincinnati Enquirer Reporter Jim McNair: His Lawyers Transform Firing To Buyout

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Last August, veteran Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Jim McNair was sacked amid a furor of buzz that he was too aggressive and unable to adapt to a faint-hearted newsroom culture. Now there is word that McNair's termination has been changed to a buyout by the Gannett Co. Inc., metro daily. The newspaper -- which escorted him off the premises and terminated him on the spot -- appears to have backed away from the firing after the 54-year-old journalist found some heavy-hitting employment law attorneys to take his case. McNair told The Daily Bellwether today that his personnel records no longer reflect a termination, and that he was indeed represented by Cincinnati employment law specialists Randy Freking and Tod Thompson.

"This is what I can say: My termination of last August has been converted to the voluntary acceptance of a buyout. That's all I'm legally able to say about the subject."

While the terms of the buyout have not been made public, they are no doubt similar to what newspaper chain Gannett has been offering at USA Today and the Detroit Free Press -- two weeks pay for every year on the job. McNair was at the Cincinnati Enquirer for six years, which means he probably collected about 12 weeks of paychecks by challenging his bosses. He came to the newspaper from the Miami Herald, and still lives in Cincinnati. McNair has been doing freelance consulting and independent research for investment companies and law firms. He's also been a suspect as the blogger behind NewsAche, which appears from time to time and disses the Enquirer as the worst metro daily newspaper in the nation. McNair insists he's not NewsAche.

That parlor game -- guessing who authors the blog -- may grow more interesting. If NewsAche disappears, it was probably McNair, whose buyout agreement likely contains the standard legal boilerplate that forbids "disparagement" of a former employer. If NewsAche continues, then it must be someone else. McNair would not be prone to risk his three months pay -- and give Gannett a chance to put him on the legal ropes -- over anonymous blogging.

An Orgy Of Newsprint Nuttiness In Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Outside SW Ohio, few know of the hyper-coverage, the totally maniacal, over-the-top, irresponsible waste of precious newsprint that Gannett's Cincinnati Enquirer has devoted to the grisly case of a child murdered by foster parents in Clermont County. This tawdry journalistic miscarriage would embarrass even Walter Winchell in his heyday as a Jazz Age gossip columnist for the New York tabs. This week, the Enquirer feasted on detritus even vultures would avoid. If you think Anna Nicole is overplayed, you've got another think coming.

I wanted to say something about this horror, but have been at a complete loss for words. Fortunately, the Cincinnati Newsache exists and wrote exquisitely and intelligently and eloquently about the Enquirer's rapid descent into territory fouler than any gutter. Please read the Newsache.

Thank you Newsache. What's so sad and offensive, as the Newsache noted, is that other children have died and the newspaper hardly noticed. Yet it rolled out the MARTIANS INVADE!!!! headlines for the Clermont County episode.

La Fontaine once said, "Every editor of newspapers pays tribute to the Devil." I don't know about every editor, but there are a few in Cincinnati who live down to that.