Category: Watchdog v. Courant
CtWatchdog’s Attorney Responds to Courant/Tribune’s Attempt To Have Wrongful Discharge Suit Dismissed
New Haven lawyer Joseph Garrison Monday filed his brief opposing a motion to strike by lawyers for The Courant and the Tribune Co., who have asked the Superior Court to dismiss my wrongful discharge suit.
I am making Garrison’s motion available for everyone to read, along with the Courant/Tribune’s motion.
The only thing I am going to [...]
Hartford Courant Nominated For Chutzpah Award For Claiming To Protect Public By Demanding It Keeps Getting $$$ For Running Legal Ads
I am nominating my old employer – The Hartford Courant – for the Chutzpah Award in advertising for 2010 for its full-page ad today asking readers to contact their state legislators.
Why? Well it seems like some legislators think that the millions of dollars spent on newspaper advertising for legal notices could be done CHEAPER on [...]
Is Courant Justified To ID West Hartford Coach Prior To A Formal Charge?
I wonder whether The Courant was doing its journalistic duty or just trying to sell newspapers at the expense of a West Hartford teacher who might have done nothing wrong, but faces destruction of his reputation.
I am referring to this morning’s CTNOW cover page story of a West Hartford teacher under investigation for sending questionable text [...]
Courant And Tribune Seek To Have Watchdog’s Wrongful Termination Suit Dismissed
Defendants’ Motion to Strike the Amended Complaint, Nov. 18, 2009 (PDF)
Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Strike the Amended Complaint, Nov. 18, 2009 (PDF)
Earlier posts
Watchdog Sues Tribune: accuses Courant of violating its written News Mission, by pressure to be nice to major advertisers, Sept. 29, 2009
Watchdog’s Attorney Amends Wrongful Discharge Suit Against [...]
Conn Law Tribune Interviews Watchdog
LAW TRIBUNE: Is your new web site, CTWatchdog.com, going to be a replacement for your job at the Courant?
GEORGE GOMBOSSY: It is my job. And it will become profitable over time. It has potential.
LAW TRIBUNE: Do potential advertisers shy away when you say you won’t go easy on them?
GOMBOSSY: [On my site, a propane company pays] $200 a month for an ad, knowing full well that, any chance I get I will take a shot at the propane business, because it is the most opaque, least transparent, shadiest energy business in the country.
Advertisers don’t advertise because they like the publisher or the reporter. They couldn’t care less. They scream and holler about a negative story, but they don’t cut their advertising. If they have a bad image problem, if they’re smart they take out more ads. Think about it. How did this work out for Sleepy’s? Did the Courant really protect Sleepy’s [image]? I never investigated Sleepy’s. I just followed up on an attorney general’s investigation with just normal reporting.
LAW TRIBUNE: The Courant says that your position was eliminated, and you were offered a different job.
GOMBOSSY: No. I wasn’t offered any position…I was offered severance. It would have come with a gag order and a confidentiality agreement – I didn’t read it that closely, because it would have prevented me from suing the Courant.
LAW TRIBUNE: The Courant’s lawyers say your case has important employment law and First Amendment issues of first impression.
GOMBOSSY: The reason it’s a case of first impression is because no journalist has ever sued a newspaper claiming that their right of free speech was hampered or prevented because their employer refused to publish something that was in the public’s interest to know. [In this case,] the journalist was then fired for attempting to do what his job is.
Watchdog’s Attorney Amends Wrongful Discharge Suit Against Courant, Tribune To Include Violation of Mission Statement
New Haven employment lawyer Joseph D. Garrison has amended my wrongful discharge lawsuit against The Courant and its parent Tribune Co. by claiming that I was fired for following the Courant’s written News Mission statement.
The News Mission statement was developed in early 2002 by a group of editors and reporters (including me) as a code by which we expected ourselves to follow. We published the statement and it is still on The Courant’s website as what I consider a promise to readers.
Courant Claims Watchdog Court Victory Would Hurt Newspapers
The Courant has begun its defense in the wrongful termination lawsuit I brought against it last month by claiming that losing this case would have a detrimental effect on all newspapers and other media in Connecticut.
This case, lawyers for The Courant wrote, involves issues “that raise questions … on the freedom of the press and [...]
Watchdog Sues Tribune: accuses Courant of violating its written News Mission, by pressure to be nice to major advertisers
As promised, New Haven attorney Joseph Garrison has filed my wrongful termination lawsuit against The Courant, accusing the country’s oldest continuously published newspaper of violating its written News Mission, or what I call its ethics policy, when it fired me last month for refusing to “be nice” to major advertisers.
Ct AG says Sleepy’s failed to provide him with answers to all his questions, Sleepy’s threatens to sue Watchdog for publishing Attorney General’s allegations
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today that Sleepy’s has failed to provide him answers to all his critical questions regarding the giant mattress retailer’s business practices.
Blumenthal, who in July began an investigation into the country’s largest mattress retailer, said in a Monday interview in his office that Sleepy’s “failed to respond” to key questions [...]
CTWatchdog On CNN, accuses top Courant/Fox 61 managers of damaging media’s integrity
See the video and read the transcript of George Gombossy’s appearance Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009 on CNN’s Reliable Sources.
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