Stranger music editor, reviewer resign

[flamingyouth]

In a bizarre story, ad coordinator secretly covered the music scene

The Stranger, one of Seattle's two alternative weekly newspapers, accepted the resignation of two employees late last week after it was discovered that an advertising coordinator had been secretly writing for the paper under a pseudonym -- something editors and managers called a conflict of interest.

The paper's club advertising coordinator, Bailee Martin, resigned Friday after her managers confronted her about writing music reviews for the print edition of the paper and for Line Out, a music blog on The Stranger's Web site. She wrote under the name "Keenan Bowen."

Music editor Dave Segal, who allowed Martin to write editorial content, also resigned after meeting with his supervisors Friday.

Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger, described Martin's dual role as inappropriate, and said he wasn't sure what led Segal to decide it was an acceptable arrangement.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/288921_stranger17.html

[progressivebydesign]

1. Mixed feelings on that one...

Ad coordinators do zero selling, they usually just make sure all the paperwork is in order, the copy proofs get to advertisers, etc. Now if it was someone with some power in the advertising area or if they found that she was getting kickbacks from clubs by doing favorable reviews.. that would be a problem. Ad coordinators are really low on the food chain in newspaperworld, she probably just liked to write and thought that the ad coordinator job would be a ticket in. Bad judgment on that one. But the Stranger, like other newspapers, has to maintain that line between editorial and advertising (though it's funny to see the daily rag I worked for in california constantly blurring the line for the benefit of the fat cats at Knight-Ridder).

[flamingyouth]

2. Well, she was coordinating advertising for clubs

I think they probably did the right thing, though I definitely see your point. ;)