And don’t be fobbed off by @Waitrose claim to have nothing to do with the editor’s decision to “resign”. Tell the store why they’re wrong to give into the perpetually offended and why they should have a backbone.
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It's a customer mag. Waitrose had just launched a vegan range. It's not about free speech it's about selling more stuff in a supermarket. He caused them a load of bad PR and lost sales. His job was to do the exact opposite. If you don't do your job, you tend to have to leave...
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Actually he didn't, the journalist who published a private email did that. I must be old-fashioned but I think that was a dreadful breach of etiquette. His words were clearly a joke and his right to free speech has been compromised by the (ever busy) outrage machine.
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Freelance journos deserve respect, not a cheap gag. That said, her pitch was woeful and his email was quite funny. But he's not a out-and-out editor... Every word published in his mag is signed off by Waitrose. He has to play that role in professional correspondence.
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In that he derided what was, for her, an important issue, it does feel disrespectful, I agree. I still can't get over the idea that someone can take private correspondence and publish it for personal gain. I suppose the problem is email is sometimes formal, sometimes informal.
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What did freelancer gain from publishing email? It was part of 'business' correspondence & therefore not private. An email that went to an external supplier. I have never worked in journalism but in a corporate environment this email would be considered deeply unproffessional
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Freelance journalists are treated very poorly by the industry atm. Low, late pay. No idea what this freelancer's situation is but I wouldn't be surprised if basic revenge was the motivation: she'd simply had enough. She also got a story out of it...
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As a freelance journalist for very many years (rarely these days), there is no way I'd publish anything exposing a commissioning editor as an arse simply for "revenge". Such action is a career limiting move, and won't have been taken lightly.
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Exactly. In a way it was ‘brave’. To survive most freelancers keep stum and don’t complain.
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I hate to be the first one to break it to you, but THERE IS NO FREE SPEECH. Unfortunately, everything you say now offends somebody. We need to fight to get it back. It has reached inane and insane proportions.
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Everyone has a right to say what they like; they don't have a right not to face consequences for doing so.
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But the "offense" bar is now set so low, everybody is facing consequences.
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He wasn't fired for the remarks, though - he was fired because the story would have been toxic publicity. A commercial decision. What would you think if a Waitrose cashier said the same thing to a customer? Should it be laughed off?
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Two different scenarios. He was emailing a known colleague in private, with what 'he thought' was an edgy witticism, NOT addressing a stranger in public. In fact he might have a case for prosecuting the writer who made it pubic as it was sent in confidence. Check out POPI laws.
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But if you're seeing it purely as a freedom of speech issue, the stranger/colleague distinction shouldn't matter.
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You're confusing two different tweets.
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Veganism is growing by the day. His "joke" was very very creepy indeed. Carnism is the most earth destroying activity on earth. If not for you, at least consider your children.
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We would also have a serious problem if the whole world went vegan.. you do understand the environmental impact that vegetable farming has?
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Do you know how many soy beans are grown to feed cattle to meet people’s ever growing demand for meat and dairy and how many more of those beans a cow consumes compared to a human?
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That’s besides my point. That simply proves that human population is the problem.
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I would say it’s primarily to do with people’s demand for beef and milk but human population growth is also a problem you’re right.
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Well... None of us should drink milk. So as far as I am concerned that's an industry that we don't need.
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Soya cheese... mmmmm....

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Fair comment - but people continue to put milk on their cereal and drink a glass of cow juice every day. If they stopped that, the cheese industry wouldn't have so much impact.
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