Author's book publication cancelled after a tweet reporting on a WMATA employee eating on the metro
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Anonymous
| I would have been annoyed seeing someone eat on the train that works for metro. However, I would not post that on social media. If I had time I would try to speak to someone at WMATA about it. There have been way too many times metro workers tell me to throw away my stuff. I get why she was upset, but the way she did it was wrong. She could have easily direct messaged WMATA. I always message companies and they usually message me back. |
Anonymous
I can only speak to the newsrooms I've worked in. But no, in my experience generally reporters are expected to be "entrepreneurial" - to find good stories on their beat. Sometimes an editor will say no, or will come to the reporter and say "go cover XYZ thing." But a big part of your job is to know your beat, find the news, and have the judgment to know which stories are worth pursuing and what angles to take on them. I worked in online media. I suspect it's different for TV news. I don't know how it is at print papers. I've done some freelancing for print papers - then, I came to editors with story ideas and they said yes or not. We had an idea about the angle the story would take before I got writing, then it was refined over the course of reporting and writing and editing the piece. Freelance pieces are a different process, though, from when you're on staff. |
Anonymous
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“Well shit it could’ve gone the other way if Kim Kardashian was on the train when it happened and she posted a pic of herself smiling sitting next to the Metro Lady while drinking Courvoisier. How many hypotheticals you gonna use to try and run from the fact that Book Lady is an idiot?”
*********** Why does black metro lady have to drink Courvoisier in your hypothetical? Why can’t it be a can of Bud Light she is drinking? Because, stereotypes, racism, prejudice. We all have a LOT of blind spots, intentional or not. This could’ve been handled better by everyone (metro lady, the book writing flashlight cop, the angry twitter mob, wmata, and the publishing company. Blind spots all around. |
Anonymous
I was referring to Kim Kardashian drinking Courvoisier. I know you're eager to find fault with me because I think the Book Lady is an idiot but you're reaching. You're reaching. |
Anonymous
What should the publishing company have done differently? They said they were looking into it - what else should they have done? What was their blind spot? |
Anonymous
Eh. KK has always been down with the brown and would be more likely to hold the cognac than the can of beer anyway. Point is, that stereotypes exist without you or I having to spell it out. All I did was ask the question. What type of person smokes Newport’s? Marlboros? Guess who decides that answer?Commercial industry intheir mass marketing and consumer behaviors that they want you to support. Even if you weren’t implying it, it’s a message that’s subconciouslt promoted I in nearly every type of social group. And there was no repercussion to faulty thinking from the mobs until now in 2019 when Twitter, Instagram, FB challenge every status quo. The larger point I was making wasn’t to criticize you or your opinion. It was to point out that there will always be misperceptions and blind spots for each person to consider - and with social media now and instant reporting, there are going to be a lot of scenarios where blind spots are revealed. People are so quick to protect their image when they operate in ignorance - digging their heels in instead of - instead of just learning from the lesson and moving on to walk in wisdom. BTW if KK is the one drinking in your example, it doesn’t compare unless KK was also a wmata employee breaking a rule. And I also think Book Lady was stupid. I called her the flashlight police. Throwback to a Martin Lawrence stand up shoe he did. 
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Anonymous
Unless your head turns 360 degrees, we all have blind spots. The corporate entity has a responsibility to operate in a way that supports stakeholders interests. I don’t know what those are, I don’t work for the company and don’t really care. But - They cancelled her book deal and encouraged others to do the same. There are other ways she could have been penalized without additional public shaming. You don’t fight fire with Fire. Everyone has an opinion and the world is going nuts about the differences. |
Anonymous
They put her book contract on hold, they didn't cancel it - and I missed where they encouraged others to do the same? Can you point me to where that happened? And even if they did cancel the contract, can you show me how that wasn't in stakeholders' interests? |
Anonymous
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Rare Bird tweeted: ‘Natasha Tynes … did something truly horrible today in tweeting a picture of a metro worker eating her breakfast on the train this morning and drawing attention to her employer. Student with Down syndrome makes history by graduating from college ‘Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behavior directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies.’ In a statement issued the following day, California Coldblood added: ‘We do not condone her actions and hope Natasha learns from this experience that black women fee the effects of systematic racism the most and that we have to be allies, not oppressors.’ California Coldblood later said they were working on ‘next steps to officially cancel’ the publication of her novel, called They Called Me Wyatt.
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/13/authors-book-deal-canceled-shames-public-transport-worker-eating-train-9517028/?ito=cbshare Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/ |
Anonymous
Working on next steps is not the same as actually canceling. But I still don't see where they encouraged other publishers not to publish her? |
Anonymous
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Screen shots from Twitter of the letter to partner cos
And they said clearly it is next steps TO CANCEL in article link do a search can't post from phone |
Anonymous
| I wonder if her day job is affected? |
Anonymous
The Metro is taxpayer-subsidized PUBLIC transit. Riders (except for for cheater fare jumpers) pay high fares for challenged service. Metro has very clear posted rules about what is unlawful, which can result in a fine or imprisonment for violators. A uniformed Metro employee was violating the law in public on full view of riders. Someone called her out for it. Instead of being embarrassed and contrite, she was rude and dismissive. You bet that’s our business. |
Anonymous
Those are all wonderful points PP but they don’t negate the fact that Book Lady made an idiotic decision in how she went about “reporting” the transgression as evidenced by the fact that for all intents and purposes the Book Lady doesn’t have a book anymore lol. |
Anonymous
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Next time you make one bad decision,
let’s take away YOUR livelihood. |