Jessica DaSilva comes under attack again

Jessica Da Silva, who writes powerfully and always with real emotion on her blog, has generated angry reactions to her latest posting once more.  

Regular readers of These Digital Times will remember intern DaSilva worked for the The Tampa Tribune, a local Florida newspaper. In a posting It’s worth fighting she bore witness to the announcement by the managing editor that the paper was in such a perilous financial position that redundancies were likely. Also radical change was needed for the paper to survive with the website, focusing on local news, likely to take priority over the paper product.

We last heard from her shell shocked from the hornet’s nest she seemed to have stirred. Her shock was understandable. Journalists, from quite different but equally vulnerable papers, had used her comments on her blog to take out their frustration at the rapidly changing media landscape. If ever there was a case of attacking the messenger.

Earlier this week, Jessica used a posting to discuss her editorship of a student paper. Pre-semester jitters is perfectly acceptable discussion of her views as she starts the job, written yet again in her personable style. But , again. she has attracted anger from a commentator called “Tired”. Here s/he is.

Will you ever learn? In your posts about the Tampa Tribune, you alluded to the idea of how you learned from your mistakes in those posts, how you have to watch your words better. Obviously, you need a really, really strong copy editor going over your blog because there are statements in here that show you have learned nothing and are still an arrogant brat who wants to play in the real world but doesn’t have the skills, tact or professional decorum.

Then it gets really personal

What can you expect from someone who is so arrogant to call herself the “lovely and talented” and who posts a photo of herself vamping with her blog? That photo looks more like it belongs in a lineup of stupid things I did when I was drunk than it does on a blog that attempts to write about serious issues. Notice that I said attempts. I think you are failing miserably.

The commentator appears to find it unreasonable that someone of DaSilva’s age and experience could have such views.

How is telling people that they are looking down on the Web site from the “high horse” going to get you cooperation and respect? Why don’t you get down from your know-it-all high horse? You have a lot to learn about getting along with people, motivating people to work for you and building a great team. As one who has been a leader of newsroom teams, you are off to a really awful start.

There’s a lot more. Don’t worry about DaSilva defending herself. Commentators have piled in to do it for her. 

For my original posting on Jessica DaSilva, click here.

For more angry commentators, click here.