Yes, He's Obviously the Problem

KTVE-TV in West Monroe, Louisiana fired a news anchor for a Facebook post. Photo from that party when he should not have tried the mushrooms? Something racist? Sexist? Something embarrassing to his station?

Sort of.

According to the Dead Pelican (how's that for a source!), Griffin Scott wrote August 14 that he "knew what the Enola Gay was and that makes me the only person under 40 who knew that in our newsroom. Not sure whether to be proud or not."

Five days later KTVE fired Scott, making it unanimous that no one in that newsroom under 40 knows what the Enola Gay was. His termination letter explained that his comment, "brought the station into public disrepute, contempt and ridicule and that it is otherwise jeopardizing the success of the station and the company."

Of course. Because the disrepute, contempt and ridicule heaped on the station could not possibly come from having a newsroom full of people who don't know what the Enola Gay was* but, if forced to guess, would say it had something to do with same-sex marriage.

No, the problem is obviously the guy who pointed it out. What have I said about TV stations being like the emperor in The Emperor's New Clothes? For them, it is perfectly OK for the emperor to stand there naked as long as everyone nods in unison about how fine his clothes look.

It's that kid, who points and says, "the emperor's naked!" who ruins everything.

So instead of doing anything to address the issue that really does cause people to view TV newscasts as an unintentional comedy of errors, the station fires the guy who didn't know he was blowing the big secret.

Talk about shooting the messenger. Whistleblower laws should cover this guy.

*If you don't know what the Enola Gay was**, Google is your friend.

**A nitpicker pointed out that the plane still exists. However since the act which made it famous and its active use ended more than 60 years ago, the verb tense in its context is correct.