Reuters Finally Fires Matthew Keys
Forbes
On Monday, Reuters finally fired Matthew Keys, a social media editor who is under indictment for allegedly helping computer hackers break into the website of the Los Angeles Times. But Keys wasn’t fired because of his alleged crimes. Instead, he says was fired because of his tweeting of the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing.
Keys took to his personal blog to complain about his treatment. In it, Keys complained that he was being treated unfairly and that his union representative was contesting the firing (Keys is a member of the Newspaper Guild and is in a position covered by the Guild’s contract with Reuters). He simply perceives this as a retaliatory firing because he got himself indicted and that the company was seizing upon his tweets during the Boston showdown as an excuse.
This is probably true. But so what?
News organizations rarely look fondly upon those employees who get themselves indicted for allying with computer hackers to attack the websites of other news organizations. Although Keys is certainly entitled to a presumption of innocence in court and for his employer to live its contract with him, he gave them the excuse.
When an employee is under a federal felony indictment, it’s always safer to avoid picking a fight with his employer. After all, it tends to undermine your negotiating position. The issues that Keys provoked on Twitter were manifold. He claimed his boss plagiarized him and continued to tweet reports off the Boston police scanner long after the Boston Police Department asked reporters not to do so.
Although Keys continues to bemoan his fate in interviews with outlets like the Columbia Journalism Review while taking shots at other journalists like Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith, he should know better. In his position, the best thing to do is keep quiet. But then again, if he knew that, he’d still have a job.
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