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Drama and Criticism at the NY Times

By Alix Claps posted 02-22-2017 04:02 PM

  

             Following his termination earlier this month, former second-string New York Times theatre critic Charles Isherwood appears to be gearing up for a fight.  Reports have surfaced that he will be exercising his right as a member of the News Guild to force the paper into arbitration on the grounds that his firing was not, in fact, for “just cause.”

            The question is whether Isherwood was fired because he criticized colleagues and management in his emails, or whether his communications with theatre producers violated Times ethics rules.  Many of his emails with Scott Rudin, for example, appear to be complaints about lead critic Ben Brantley and editors at the paper.  However, Vulture’s reporting also points out emails in which Isherwood appears to be either threatening bad reviews to producers with whom he is unhappy, or promising glowing reviews to others.

            Depending on the exact content of the emails and the specifics of the Times’s Ethical Journalism handbook, Isherwood may be out of luck, or may have a compelling wrongful termination claim.

 

Additional coverage can be found at:

http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/why-was-times-theater-critic-charles-isherwood-fired.html?mid=fb-share-vulture

http://pagesix.com/2017/02/15/new-york-times-critic-fired-over-relationship-with-scott-rudin/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2017/02/22/fired-ny-times-drama-critic-fires-back/#52dad1fd2885

http://deadline.com/2017/02/new-york-times-culture-desk-charles-isherwood-leaves-as-layoffs-loom-1201903894/

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