Firing of Athens NEWS editor sparks backlash

By: Dani Kington, Assistant Editor at The Athens Messenger

Editor's Note: Dani Kington is the associate editor at the Athens Messenger, a news outlet owned by Adams Publishing Group. Kington sent this story to The New Political as it was barred from being published in an APG outlet. Kington is a reputable reporter and editor in Athens and wrote about the recent firing of Corinne Colbert as editor of the Athens NEWS. The New Political recognizes the importance of free speech and dangers of censorship. We agreed to publish this as a news story with Kington's byline due to Kington's credibility and important content of the story. The Athens community deserves to know what is happening at their local newspaper.

This story has also been updated to correct the spelling of Corinne’s name in the Editor’s Note, as well as correct that she is a “longtime” resident of Athens, not a “lifetime” resident.

The parent company of both The Athens NEWS and The Athens Messenger is facing widespread condemnation following the termination of Corinne Colbert from her position as The Athens NEWS editor on Friday, Feb. 25.

Colbert was editor for only eight months. A longtime resident of Athens County, she came to the position with decades of experience in writing and editing.

In a viral Twitter thread, Colbert said she was fired for violating Adams Publishing Group’s social media policy, including “for posts I made… warning readers about scams promoted in ads purchased at the national level.”

The thread went viral. As of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, the first tweet in Colbert’s thread about her termination had received over 29,700 likes, 5,746 retweets and 581 quote tweets.

Meanwhile, a fundraiser started by Colbert to launch an independent nonprofit news outlet in Athens County had raised nearly $15,000.

Among those who shared messages of support for Colbert were prominent journalists from near and far, local and state political candidates, and even the director of television shows Gossip Girl and The OC.

“I never imagined, anticipated, or expected what would happen,” Colbert said. “It’s been a huge lift knowing that other people believe in good journalism as much as I do.”

In her post, Colbert took aim at trends in the journalism industry at large.

“APG epitomizes EVERYTHING that is wrong in American journalism today,” Colbert said. “It’s run by people who do not understand—or do not care about—journalism.”

Colbert cited staff cuts which have left southeast Ohio papers operating at “the bare minimum… with no resources or support.”

The post specifically named APG of Ohio President Mark Cohen, who allegedly told Colbert “our job is to protect APG.” Cohen oversees six southeast Ohio papers but lives in Columbus, which Colbert also criticized.

Cohen declined to comment for this story and instructed this reporter and their editor not to move forward with this story for APG publications.

Cohen also removed a letter to the editor by Colbert from the Tuesday, March 1 edition of The Athens Messenger.

Coin ads

The most recent social media posts that Coblert says APG management cited at her termination meeting — and which Colbert referenced in her viral tweets — centered around advertisements run in several APG outlets.

Now-deleted posts to the official Facebook and Twitter channels of The Athens NEWS explained that “several readers” contacted the paper about the ads, purchased by Federated Mint and claiming to sell high-value collectible coins.

Readers reported that the companies advertised “took their money but never delivered.”

The Athens Messenger also received a report from a local reader that the company took their money and never delivered the advertised product.

Colbert’s viral Twitter thread says “several editors” raised concerns about the ads when they were initially placed in APG papers, “but our objections were overruled because the ads were purchased through our corporate office.”

The Adams Publishing Group social media policy, last updated November 2021, says employees “must preserve our news organizations’ reputation for fairness and impartiality.”

The Athens Messenger Editor Alex Hulvalchick, who recently announced her resignation from APG effective March 11, was among the editors who raised concerns about the ads.

The Vinton-Jackson Courier, also owned by APG, initially refused to run the ads in question.

The Federated Mint ads are designed like newspaper articles. And, as a representative of the Better Business Bureau told Moody on the Market, the company’s advertisements work “very hard to get consumers to think” the company is associated with the federal government.

Federated Mint has an ‘F’ rating on Better Business Bureau. The company’s profile on the BBB site warns that the BBB has challenged the company multiple times for false advertising.

BBB has processed 112 consumer complaints about Federated Mint in the past three years. Many of the complaints report products ordered and never received, or products received that were unlike the products advertised.

Pricing for the “rarely seen” government-issued Silver Walking Liberty Half Dollar bank rolls begins at $585, according to the advertisement. The ad states that because the coins are ‘unsearched,’ there is “no telling how much they could be worth.”

Colbert said, “I know that a newspaper needs to make money… How you make the money matters.”

Federated Mint did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Other issues

Colbert provided the Messenger various other social media posts that she said APG management took issue with at the meeting in which she was terminated from her position at the NEWS.

The posts, which she says APG management told her were also in violation of the company’s social media policy, were created between September 2021 and February 2022. The post about the coin ads were the only posts Colbert says were flagged for the month of February.

Several of the posts also centered on issues with APG management, with multiple posts referring to her now-former newsroom’s lack of resources and one post stating that Colbert had been “called to the principal’s office more times in 4 months than in 4 years of high school.”

Some of the posts criticized trends in the industry more broadly, with one post stating, “If you’re focused solely on profit rather than serving the community, you’re doing it wrong.”

Other posts were unrelated to the industry, including a September post that referred to Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) as a “MF” and an October post that referred to Republican U.S. Senate Candidate for Ohio J.D. Vance a “POS,” both abbreviated slurs.

APG’s social media policy states, “Journalists must refrain from making racist, sexist, or political statements.”

Colbert said she believes journalists should be able to share their opinions on personal channels.

“Objectivity is not about neutrality. Objectivity is a method,” Colbert said. “It’s how you go about collecting and reporting the news.”

She added, however, “I get the company’s position about not wanting to jeopardize your credibility.”

Colbert said she believes the policy was used as a “pretext,” however — in part because she said she had never been approached about the policy prior to her termination.

“Private companies have every legal right to dismiss employees that they believe are violating a policy,” Colbert said. “My beef is not that I got fired for violating the policy — my beef is that they fired me using the policy as a pretext.”

Colbert said she felt the real issue at play was that President of APG Ohio Mark Cohen “doesn’t like people who stand up to him, and I did.”

Colbert said she and Cohen disagreed sharply over not only the coin advertisement but various other issues as well. Colbert said Cohen took issue with her allowing an entry critical of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to be published on an Athens NEWS opinion page, and asked advertising staff to weigh in on her decision.

She said Cohen also disagreed with her description of the newsroom as under resourced in an editorial supporting the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, as well as a post Colbert made on The Athens NEWS Facebook account which clarified that editorial staff was not responsible for an ad left out of the paper that prompted accusations of bias from the Athens County Democratic Party.

Next steps

Colbert’s fundraiser to launch an independent, nonprofit news outlet in Athens County, like Colbert’s Twitter thread, has seen support both locally and nationally.

“The best journalism is community focused, community inspired and community owned,” Colbert said. “People making decisions about community journalism who don’t live anywhere near the community, don’t know the community, don’t have any personal stake in the community, is what’s wrong with a lot of American journalism today.”

Colbert added that leaders of most media conglomerates “see a balance sheet and not much else.”

In contrast, Colbert wants to create an outlet “that is not only community focused but community governed,” with an advisory board composed of local residents.

Colbert said she was thankful for the financial support for the endeavor.

“In Appalachia we take care of each other, but to have that community of support from all over —  from the journalism world, from consumers of journalism — I don’t even have the words,” Colbert said. “When you strike a writer dumb, it’s says something.”