Here’s something new to consider when you’re executing layoffs at a media company in the Twitter Age: Try not to fire the guy whose wife has 1,225,114 followers [1].
Last week, roughly two months after acquiring [2] the Congressional Quarterly, the Economist Group announced a reorganization of its new CQ/Roll Call group, resulting in the elimination of 44 editorial positions [3].
One of them was Chris Lehmann, a senior editor and the husband of Ana Marie Cox [4] -- the former Time and Wonkette blogger, current MSNBC contributor (she recently guest-hosted the “Rachel Maddow” show) and one rather prolific Tweeter [5].
Cox’s tweets were, at least initially, rather innocuous, offering general support to her husband. And bourbon.
But after a report surfaced [6] that an additional senior editor, 27-year-veteran Brian Nutting, was allegedly fired for demanding that executives explain their rationale for laying off 44 of his colleagues, Cox’s tweets turned into something of a movement. She began concluding her posts with the ominous “#CQFAIL [7]” tag and encouraged her 1.2 million-plus [1] followers to “unfollow” CQ’s presence on Twitter, @CQPolitics [8].
She also tweeted: “FYI: there is a binding legal document keeping @lehmannchris [9] from thanking/participating w/r/t #CQfail. But trust me, he's aware of it.”
Meanwhile, Mediabistro’s FishbowlDC launched an interview series [10] with the laid off staffers to help them find new jobs.
This is what brand marketers and PR pros refer to as a “crisis.”
As Reuters blogger Felix Salmon noted [11], "this CQ mess makes the Economist look positively evil. Do they know that?"
It doesn't appear they do.