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In an interview with Unfair Park yesterday, and in a slew of postings on social media, recently ousted Dallas Voice Editor John Wright said he was fired for “doing journalism” by reporting on a nudity ban at this year’s Dallas Pride parade.
His bosses disagree.
“He’s been saying a lot of stuff that is inaccurate,” Voice Publisher Leo Cusimano tells Unfair Park this morning. Stuff like Wright’s claim that the Dallas Tavern Guild, angered by his reporting on the nudity ban, leaned on the paper’s management, and the suggestion that the paper’s journalistic integrity has slipped since its founder sold it six months ago.
Cusimano takes particular issue with that last point. “The wall that we have between editorial and advertising was put in place partly by my direction [as advertising director], and it is still in place, and it’s very strong.”
See also: Organizers Want This Year’s Gay Pride Parade to Be Nudity-Free, Angering LGBT Activists
So, if Wright wasn’t fired for doing journalism, then why?
Cusimano won’t say. “It’s really an internal employee matter,” he says. “He has his opinions, and we have ours.”
Wright, as we have seen, hasn’t been shy about expressing his. After his initial bridge-burning Facebook post railing against his firing, Wright has embarked upon a campaign to douse the bridge-ash in gasoline and rekindle the flames, all using the #boycottdallasvoice hashtag.
And so on.
Cusimano, meanwhile, seems eager to put the matter behind him. He’s already placed an ad on JournalismJobs.com.
