Hard Times at newspaper can get you fired or your mouth washed out with soap

Hartford Courant fires George Gobossy, 40 year veteran

Hartford Courant Consumer Columnist Fired For “Pissing Off” Advertiser

Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, August 15, 2009 with story from The Consumerist

The Hartford Courant fired its consumer columnist of 40 years for writing up a report about a mattress reseller who sold used and bug infested mattresses. Consumer Reports, in it blog “The Consumerist” is resorting to a  get-too-real strategy of vulgar slang like “pissing off” to attract attention and it works.

There are so many lay-off stories in the news these day. It’s hard to cover them all. Is it 20,000 this year or just 14,000 – no one is bothering to count as the newspaper business dies and re-invents itself.

It was the headline “pissing off advertisers” that got my attention. Did Consumer Reports, that uptight and aging consumer bible, say “pissing off”? What’s next for CU in an attempt to recreate their stranglehold on consumer news “f___ed off”

The story is typical in the profit driven newspaper business. George Gombossy is a 40 year employee of the Hartford Courant which bills itself as “America’s Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper”. The by-line and the look of the paper tell you they are one step from the grave.

George Gombossy, formerly their business editor, had taken on consumer stories three years ago. He was good at it.

In 2007 Gombossy caught Best Buy with a secret Intranet used to cheat customers on sale prices.

This month he was going to publish a story on Sleepy’s who were apparently selling used mattresses as new along with some free bed bugs. Sleepy’s: The bedbug column The Courant refused to publish about its prime advertiser

Approved by his editor, the column offended Sleepy’s so much the Courant publisher fired Gombossy. That’s the newspaper business.

The reader thinks they are getting the truth. Actually, they are getting just enough truth to keep you subscribing and looking at the ads.

Gombossy crossed the line with Sleepy’s. Advertisers were easy to come by in 2007. Nowadays, the paper needs everyone. Writers it can pick up for a dime and Hartford Courant readers will forget about Gombossy the publisher figures.

Gombossy is getting even. He started his own blog “Connecticut Watchdog We Never Give Up We Never Give In. That’s what journalists with integrity and no job do these days.

We write on the Internet and then the truth comes out. Good luck George. You’ll do well as long as your energy holds out.

What’s with the stodgy Consumer Reports?

Consumer Reports, don't want to pay anymore

The normally staid Yankee consumer bible has gone gutter talk with the headline in their blog “The Consumerist”. Hartford Courant Consumer Columnist Fired For Pissing Off Advertiser

Whoa, that’s kinda of a vulgar headline for the old comparison shopping magazine. Full disclosure: I subscribed to and saved Consumer Reports from 1969 onward until the late-90’s when the same information was free on the Internet.

Consumer Reports taught me to be carefully with my pennies and get the best buy. The best buy in consumer information today is free on the Internet and I don’t have to spend Sunday afternoon searching for old articles on the best house paint.

I love Consumer Reports but I’m not giving them money anymore so find a new business model guys. And cut out the vulgar headlines or your mother, or mine, will wash your mouth out with soap. Yechh.

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