Who’d have thunk the Conan O’Brien versus Jay Leno debacle was just a precursor?

NBC is having a very bad start to 2010.

A month after the fourth-place network went through a public relations nightmare with its late-night line-up, NBC once again finds itself in the midst of a firestorm, this time due to its lackluster coverage of the Winter Olympics.

The network paid $820 million for the right to broadcast the Vancouver games, a 37 percent increase over the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. Factor in the cost it takes to produce the games — from cameramen, producers, reporters and multiple top shelf hosts — NBC figures to lose $250 million.

Losing money for the right to broadcast sports is nothing new. Networks have been doing it with the Super Bowl and other marquee events for ages. It’s what’s known as the halo effect. The network can shamelessly promote other, more-profitable shows (See: the horrible concept of The Marriage Ref, the always awful Celebrity Apprentice and the could-be-decent Parenthood), which in the end will result in more viewership and eventual profits for the network.

Where NBC went wrong this time around was just how far it was willing to go to save a buck, ultimately destroying everything we enjoy about watching the Olympics.

These Olympics, located in the Pacific Time Zone, are primed for a U.S. television audience. NBC apparently thinks the West coast of North America, which includes the country’s most populous state, California, is a foreign land on the other side of the world. Nearly every event has been tape delayed, some airing on NBC in prime-time several hours after the results have been posted on every sports website, Twitter and Facebook feed known to exist. With the results known, the reason most of us watch sports — for the drama and unscripted outcome — is gone.

Factor in other cost-cutting measures: cutting streaming video of events online from 61 percent or 2,200 hours of the events in Beijing just two years ago, to 48 percent or 400 hours in Vancouver.

The network has devoted seamlessly countless hours to curling, while intense and dramatic sports like hockey, downhill skiing and the bobsled/luge/skeleton events have been relegated to tight, edited packages where only a handful of the competitors are shown.

Media critics and non-media critics alike have blasted NBC the last two weeks, while the Twitter tag #NBCfail has been a trending topic for days.

The mismanagement of NBC time-slots and resources is nothing new. What few regular viewers NBC has left, even those who usually don’t notice these things, have likely felt scorned by the networks Olympic coverage.

It’s unfortunate. Until recently, I’ve always felt NBC was far undervalued. While NBC has made plenty of stupid decisions (example: Leno in prime-time), the network has an eye for quality programing (see: Friday Night Lights, Chuck, The Office — and for the former two, even created innovative ways to keep those shows on the air.) NBC can once again be proud of its “Must See TV” Thursday night line-up and has found a diamond in the stand-up-comic rough with Jimmy Fallon, who has grown tremendously into his role as host of Late Night.

But as the late-night war forewarned, and the Olympics have proved, NBC is horribly mismanaged and will do anything to save a buck, even scorn its loyal viewers and destroy the mystique of one of the world’s premier events.

Through the controversies the network has seen increased ratings; all news is good news, right? Not quite. While NBC may be netting more eyeballs in the short-term, it is damaging its brand and inflicting long-term damage on an already crippled product.

Sadly, I only remember one of my 2009 New Year’s resolutions, and unfortunately it was a drastic failure. After reading a book a month in ’07, and 16 books in ’08, I made the ambitious goal to read 36 books this past year. The final total? I was part-way through my tenth book when 2009 came to an end.

In late 2008, and the first few months of 2009, I came to find value in New Year’s resolutions and birthday reflections; once upon a time I found both to be pointless wastes of time. But there’s something powerful and revealing when you take the time to set goals for your future and reflect on your past. In essence, there is true value to be had in doing both and — lucky for me — New Years and my birthday fall six months apart, making it a semi-annual ritual.

So, we come to 2010, and begin where 2009 was an utter failure: books. Again, I plan to be ambitious. What is the point of setting a goal that won’t be a challenge? Yet I’m hopeful this year, it will be attainable. Twenty-four books — an achievable, yet challenging two per month. My reading list is easily twice as large with books being added constantly, so there will be no shortage of desired material.

Next, the cliché of all New Years clichés: fitness. Little over a month ago, upon completing Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years — which is a memoir about attempting to live a better story — I decided I, too, wanted to tell a better story with my life, and chose to begin training for a half-Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), which takes place in Boise this June. To this point, my training has been a disaster, though it’s not too late to turn it around and be ready in six months. While Boise is still my primary goal, I don’t want to end up pushing my body too hard, and in the event that six months is too soon, I still, would like to at least reach the training level of a half-Ironman this year. Since the conclusion of the water polo season my freshman year of college, in 2002-03, my working out has been sporadic at best. In 2010, I hope to get into a healthy routine. I likely will never be training up to five hours a day, as I did swimming in high school, but it’d be nice to get back into a regular fitness routine.

Also in the year ahead, I’d like to take a major step in my career. As the year begins, there are couple of obvious directions that step could be. Each would be progress, but none are assured; and who knows if another opportunity will pop up. What I do know, though, is I would like to commit to one, and forge ahead. Be it Wired Oregon, the media company I’ve founded, developing into a financially sustainable project, or taking a position that is both a good career move and can provide some much-needed cash flow into my checking account. In any case, I need to find myself in a creative position. I’ve spent too much of 2009 studying and brainstorming ways to invent new media strategies for the digital age to get stuck doing medial tasks with no creative flexibility.

Finally — and I’ve touched on it briefly already — I want to live a better story. Several books I read this year struck that chord: the aforementioned Donald Miller book; William Zinsser’s Writing Places; John Eldridge’s Captivating; even fiction novels like Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain and Stephen Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo. Sometimes, it becomes obvious the universe is trying to teach you something. For me, in 2009, it was telling me to get my butt in gear and start living better.

1. The First Days of Spring — Noah and the Whale

I’ve been a moderate Noah and the Whale fan for a couple of years. Their album, Peaceful the World Lays Me Down (2008), made my top ten a year ago and had a fairly regular appearance in my music rotation. I wasn’t sure what to expect from First Days, but what I didn’t expect was to be completely blown away by the group’s growth in performance and songwriting. There isn’t a weak song on the album; the whole thing continues to build like a great playlist and makes for one of those rare albums that is great for any occasion: studying, working, driving, even rocking out.

Top tracks: Blue Skies, My Door is Always Open.

2. Build Me This — Joshua James

This was another album, like Last Days, that completely took me by surprise this past year. I was familiar with Joshua James, but none of his previous work had really struck a chord with me. That all changed when I heard the first song off the album, Coal War. James is a fantastic songwriter who hits a home run with this effort.

Top tracks: Coal War, In the Middle.

3. Strict Joy — The Swell Season

First, if you’ve yet to see the film Once, do yourself a favor and stop reading this right now and go out and rent, watch and enjoy it. You can thank me later. The Academy Award winning duo featured in Once make up the lead musicians for The Swell Season, and their first major album release since the 2006 film is nothing short of spectacular. It’s one of those albums that the more you listen, the better it gets.

Top tracks: Low Rising, I Have Loved You Wrong.

4. Conditions — The Temper Trap

A really good up-and-coming rock band that sadly has yet to really catch on in the United States, despite great success in their home of Australia and in the United Kingdom. Speaking of which, there are quite a few similarities from The Temper Trap that one would find in the popular British band Bloc Party. All songs on Conditions are equally enjoyable.

Top tracks: Sweet Disposition, Fader.

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — Phoenix

Most of my top ten list is devoted to strong singer-songwriters. Phoenix, however, is not the typical soft, artsy folk-like music found on my list. It is the perfect upbeat, electronic album. The French band has been around for a few albums, but is just now making it big on this side of the Atlantic. Their music is also so universally appealing it’s begun to make its way into car commercials. Don’t interpret commercial appeal with generic either — this band has a unique style that the American music scene was desperately lacking.

Top tracks: 1901, Love Like a Sunset

Rounding out the top 10:

6. Songbook, Woodpigeon
7. Far, Regina Spektor
8. Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King, Dave Matthews Band
9. To Lose My Life, White Lies
10. Everybody, Ingrid Michaelson

Also worth mentioning:

These albums are all top ten worthy, but I disqualified them either because they were a soundtrack, an E.P. or the artist and producer were both people with whom I was acquainted.

Flannel EP — Kelsey Shields: As the final touches of production were being done to this album, I was living upstairs from the basement studio where this fantastic EP was recorded. Despite hearing these songs over and over again for hours on end, the music never gets old; in fact, if I go too long without listening to the album, I go through withdrawals. Kelsey surely has a future in music, and if she doesn’t, something is sorely wrong with this world.

Blood Bank — Bon Iver: This EP, along with the Bon Iver’s 2008 release For Emma, Forever Ago, may have been recorded in the cold, depressing Wisconsin winter, but they’re the perfect companion to warm up with during a dreary Oregon night.

(500) Days of Summer Official Soundtrack — Various Artists: Not only was the film immensely enjoyable, but the soundtrack took this little independent movie that could and made the story that much more compelling; Only Garden State had as equally superb a soundtrack that had me leaving the theater debating whether the film or the music was greater. Two artists who landed in my top ten owe their discovery by me to this very soundtrack.

The University of Oregon has a history of making rash, uninformed decisions only to reverse course and cave to public pressure.

Will history repeat itself at next week’s Civil War football game, when the Ducks play host to Oregon State?

Last week, a trio of Oregon Students: Jamie Slade, Brian McAndrew and Michael Bishop, known as the rap group Supwitchugirl, made a music video for their song “I Love My Ducks.”

Watch it here:

Within a couple of hours of uploading the video to YouTube, it had been viewed several thousand times, and began to spread virally across social networks like Facebook.

Unfortunately, the success of the video would lead to its temporary demise as the University of Oregon marketing department caught wind of the production that prominently featured the school mascot, Puddles. The mascot is based on Donald Duck, and the school has a strict licensing agreement with Disney to use the character. Due to Puddles’ presence in the video, the group was asked to remove all traces of it online or be reported to YouTube for copyright infringement.

This was the university’s first mistake: within an hour of Supwitchugirl honoring the athletic department’s request and marking the video private, it began to appear on Facebook, Yahoo Video and again on YouTube. The video’s fans, of which there were many, began to reproduce it on every video Web site they could find.

The video has now been seen almost 130,000 times, according to today’s Oregon Daily Emerald, and among its fans are Oregon head football coach Chip Kelly, voice of the Ducks Jerry Allen and national sports personality Dan Patrick.

Strikes two and three against the university came today, eight days after the video was due to be removed from YouTube:

Trying to profit off their internet sensation, Supwitchugirl attempted to license an “I Love My Ducks” T-shirt to sell at the university bookstore, but according to the group they were denied because it would “encourage watching the video.” (Note that the university would have also profited off the backs of some creative students). Lastly, the group also stated that it had been contacted by Nike in an effort to show the video, sans Duck mascot, on the Autzen Stadium video board during the Civil War football game. The clips where Puddles appeared in the video would be replaced by football highlights from this season. Also denied despite the university claiming that the Disney copyright was the only objection the athletic department had to the video.

The students involved with Supwitchugirl clearly made a mistake by including Puddles in the video without first obtaining consent, and as the Oregon Daily Emerald reported, “The athletic department said the video’s runaway success did not change the legal reality of the situation.” That said, the students have obliged every university request, and now have public opinion on their side, while the university continues to act in its typical “We’re the only game in town” authoritarian approach it has used with fans and media for years.

This seemingly personal vendetta against the members of Supwitchugirl can come back to bite the university in the ass — that is, until the University caves in and gives these students the moment in the spotlight — at Autzen Stadium on Dec. 3 — that they deserve.

More on this story from elsewhere:

The Oregonian: Oregon gets it all wrong trying to squash viral video ‘I Love My Ducks’ – Nov. 18
The Register-Guard: Duck’s bad rap – Nov. 20
Oregon Daily Emerald: Every path has its puddles – Nov. 24

Life is all about transforming from one person in the beginning to an entirely different being in the end.

As we move through life, as we live, participate and even help create our own stories, we change.

Or, so we hope.

The last several months I’ve been subject to profound change. Earth-shattering, the-world-is-not-flat types of change; they have shaken beliefs, habits and relationships to their core.

Lately, I’ve become a fan of the memoir. I enjoy reading or observing people’s stories. Maybe it’s the deep-rooted journalist/storyteller in me, or maybe I’m just human and enjoy a good story. Inherently, since reading more and more memoirs, I’ve looked at my life as a long story – wondering how this particular chapter in my life reads, trying to notice in-the-moment the closing of a chapter or daydreaming of what the future story holds.

Lots of daydreaming, and it always ends up being a great story. Funny how that works, huh?

But lately, maybe even always, if I’m just now waking up to the fact – I haven’t lived a good story. I’ve always played it safe, and sought a life of comfort over risk and adventure.

That’s not what makes a good story.

I’m not saying I need to jump off a cliff or climb Mount Everest — though mountain climbing has always had a certain appeal to me — rather, I need to listen to that voice inside me, or what Donald Miller in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, calls “The Writer,” when it tells me to step off the safe path I’ve chosen.

I was watching a reality show on television… and I wondered what a show might look like if a camera followed me around. I wondered what people would think. That is, setting aside my daydreams and wants and thoughts and revealing my life through an objective camera lens. The thought was humbling. In truth, I was a person who daydreamed and then wrote down his daydreams. Sure, there were other characters, friends and business associates, but I wasn’t living any kind of sacrifice. My entire life had been designed to make myself more comfortable, to insulate myself from interruption of my daydreams. – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, pg. 77.

In the last few months, I’ve become just short of obsessed with the movie (500) Days of Summer. It just feels like a story I’ve lived, or, had I put pen to paper – would have written. I’ve watched the film and put myself in the place of the protagonist, Tom, imagining the cameras follow me through the ups and downs of a relationship. I can even identify with the preamble of the story, where Tom is described as growing “up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met ‘the one.’ This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total misreading of the movie, ‘The Graduate.’”

The Graduate, another premise of a story I can identify with, lounging around while failing to live a good story.

And it’s true, I have a deep-rooted belief that I’ll be unhappy until I meet ‘her,’ and have a family. In fact, my deepest rooted fear is never getting that. My daydreams, my many, many daydreams center around whichever particular woman I’m infatuated with in my mind this week, and what that life would look like. I’m great at daydreaming beautiful, romantic love stories. I’m horrible at creating a real life story.

It’s an odd feeling to be awakened from a life of fantasy. You stand there looking at a bare mantel and the house gets an eerie feel, as though it were haunted by a kind of nothingness, an absence of something that could have been, an absence of people who could have been living there, interacting with me, forcing me out of my daydreams. – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, pg. 76.

So, here I am awakened from a life of fantasy, looking at a room void of pictures that would tell a grand story and wondering what step I need to take.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything about music. Which is odd considering how much of an impact it has on my life.

While working on some projects over the last couple weeks I’ve averaged over 100-songs a day – that’s anywhere from eight to ten hours of music, most in one sitting – so yeah, I should have something to say.

Favorite musician right now:

William Fitzsimmons – I’m not sure exactly how I came upon his music, but it only took a couple notes to hook me. Initially I compared Fitzsimmons to another unkept bearded musician: Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, and while the musical styles are at times similar, Fitzsimmons has an uncanny ability to do far more with less than any other songwriter that comes to mind.

Last month I had the privilege of seeing several of my favorite artists perform live; in addition to seeing Fitzsimmons perform, I saw Coldplay, Greg Laswell, Switchfoot and Blue October. While Coldplay was an incredible experience, it will be Fitzsimmons intimate show with about 50 attendees that will live in my memory forever.

Fitzsimmons ability however, goes far beyond his exceptional guitar skills. The man is an epic songwriter who, unlike so many who try and fail, captures the perfect lyrics for love and heartbreak. He recently appeared on an NPR segment discussing the inspiration for his lyrics.

If you’re only going to listen to one Fitzsimmons song: “Just Not Each Other.”

Other musicians getting lots of play:

Jenny Owen Youngs, who opened for Fitzsimmons at the show I attended. In particular, her song, “Last Person,” which is her singing to a man sitting at the bar alone who fears being “the last person on earth tonight” – a feeling I can really relate to at this point in my life.

Brenden James’ debut album “The Day is Brave” has been listened to so many times on my computer/iPhone I fear I must be wearing out the digital files. There isn’t a bad song on the album, and “Hero’s Song” is a war protest song on par with anything heard during the Vietnam War.

Bon Iver is probably the “most trendy” pick on this list, since it seems six months ago no one knew of him and now he’s everywhere. Yet, I just can’t get enough of his musical stylings, so here he is. From beginning to end “For Emma, Forever Ago” is a masterpiece of an album, but his more recently released four-song EP “Blood Bank” may be even better.

Ingrid Michaelson has been a constant on my playlists since that Old Navy commercial a couple years ago featuring “The Way I Am.” Unfortunately, Michaelson has fallen into that “one hit wonder” trap that so many great singer-songwriters fall into (See: Vanessa Carlton, et al). Mainstream success aside, Michaelson is a fantastic artist, and her new album “Everybody” features a couple jewels, including: “Are We There Yet,” and the single, “Maybe.”

Ever since I could walk, my parents have dubbed me “Mr. Safety.”

I was never one to take much risk.

As such, I’ve never experienced much pain; On the flip side it could probably be said I’ve never really experienced the joy that comes in conquering risks either.

Sure, I’ve played sports, and I’ve flown down a mountain on skis exceeding 60 mph, but for the most part every “risk” was controlled.

What occurred a couple weekends ago was also controlled risk, but something went terribly wrong and for the first time in my life I landed in the emergency room with broken bones.

Up until that moment, my strength and composure had never really been tested.

*

My family was spending a warm day on the lake celebrating a birthday. The day was quickly coming to an end, and so my grandfather, uncle, cousin Monica and I decided to go tubing one last time.

Up until our last run, the day had been without incident. There were a few of the spectacular flips one expects when tubing on the lake, but those rarely result in anything more that some water up your nose.

After pronouncing to those on the boat that it’d be my last turn on the tube and someone else could get ready, the boat started off with me bracing the tube expecting to get flipped at any moment.

Instead, I looked ahead and noticed the bank of rocks looked way too close. It quickly became obvious that there was no avoiding it. To jump off the tube would just result in my body being fully exposed to the jetty; instead, I tucked as tight as I could, using the tube as a shield.

For a brief moment, I thought somehow I had miraculously made it past the rocks and back into open water. Then I heard the “clunk.”

As best I can remember, I was never unconscious, but I did blackout about 30 seconds – because my first memory is of the boat pulling up to the rocks – which would have taken time to turn around and get to me.

Upon realizing I was alive, I noticed my ear was bleeding, but my head otherwise appeared to be okay. Only then did I look down to notice my left hand didn’t look as it should.

*

Maybe I was in shock, but as I remember the events that followed, I feel like I was in control of the situation. Sure, I was in pain, but I was able to calm my cousin who was crying on my behalf. My grandfather and uncle were still wondering how the crash didn’t end up killing me. Of the four of us on the boat, I feel like I was the most composed.

It’s because of that, I’m actually happy that an incident like this occurred. Not that I’m glad I had several dislocations and two fractures in my left hand, but I learned more about myself in that accident and in the hours that followed in the ER then I had in my entire life.

I’ve always been afraid to take risks because I feared I wouldn’t be strong enough. Now, I’ve seen I am. Bring on the risk and adventure.

The danger with the name Word of Mouth is: you must live up to the billing. The Salem bistro doesn’t disappoint.

What has quickly become a Salem hotspot; in less-than-a-year of existence Word of Mouth Bistro has already won a “Best of Salem” distinction from the readers of the Statesman Journal.

According to co-owner Becky Mucha who shares ownership in the restaurant with her chef husband Steve, the Salem eatery was intended for Eugene. A greedy landlord wanted too high a deposit for a restaurant space downtown, so north to Salem the Mucha’s went.

Eugene’s loss is Salem’s fantastic win. There isn’t a breakfast spot in the state that could top Word of Mouth. The bistro is also famous for their signature clam chowder, and features a fully stocked bar and local microbrews on tap.

The bistro sits in an old house on 17th Street accommodating about 10 tables of patrons spread around three rooms, with four chairs located at the bar.

If you’re dining alone — as many regulars do because the food is that good — or eating out with just one other, sitting at the bar is highly recommended. Located next to the kitchen, the bar provides a frenzy of activity for your enjoyment. You’ll quickly find yourself striking up conversations with those seated next to you as well as with Becky — who in addition to owning the restaurant is a bartender and server — or any of the other waitress’ as they move through the tight workspace. You may also find yourself getting complementary items to go along with your meal; and by the time you’re walking out the door you feel as if you’ve just attended a large family reunion, stuffed from great food and great company.

Steve, who spends nearly all his time in the kitchen cooking meals from scratch brings a lot of restaurant experience to Word of Mouth. He owned Salem’s Busick Court from 1988 until 1996, while also owning Brick Bar & Broiler (1993-1998) and The Point Downtown (1998-2001), the last falling victim to a poor economy following September 11th.

The couple moved to Catalina Island where he managed two resort restaurants. “In the (offseason), we might have 15 breakfasts, 20 lunches and 5 dinners. So, all winter we’d play with food. We’d experiment, research, explore, we’d perfect. We had fun. That is what we do, that is what we enjoy and that is what you will see at Word of Mouth.”

From the scene at the restaurant today, it appears that this weak economy is not impacting patronage. Reasonably priced meals start with the daily breakfast special: usually priced at $3.95 for early birds before 8 a.m., and range to $17.95 for a 12 oz. New York steak seasoned with peppercorn and toped with bleu cheese, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Most menu items however fall under the $10 mark.

When able, everything that goes into Word of Mouth’s recipes is locally grown or produced.

For my third meal at Word of Mouth I tried “The Incredible Flying Biscuit” (photo above) which was a fried chicken breast, fried egg, bacon, cheese and gravy on a buttermilk biscuit. It may have been the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten.

In past visits to Word of Mouth, I had the Corned Beef Hash, and a chicken bruschetta sandwich with a cup of clam chowder. All three meals come highly recommended, I can’t wait until I can try the next delicious looking item on the menu.

My only regret is not trying Word of Mouth until my final week living in Salem. That didn’t stop me however, from visiting again today, an hour-long drive from Eugene. Do yourself a favor and hit the road to Word of Mouth Bistro, which is well worth the drive from Portland, Eugene or elsewhere.

Another childhood friend is getting married in a few hours.

I’m happy for her. But, what started as a tidbit of information for my mother, plunged into something deeper.

“So, there goes another one of your girls, huh Josh?”

I was never really interested in my friend who’s getting married, not romantically at least. My mother knew that as well, but her comment hit home.

I’m 25 and alone.

Sure, 25 is young-ish. But it’s not that young. It’s no longer a valid deflection.

I looked up from the table after realizing what my mother said, and thought, “she’s right.”

Another wholesome, loving, gorgeous, everything-you’d-want in a wife woman off the market, while I sit around and mope. Pretty much anyone I’d ever considered as marriage material in my life is either married off or likely with the one they will marry.

And for the first time since being single, the thoughts of alone aren’t about missing her, they’re deeper than that.

Thoughts of loneliness shifted to thoughts of friends who have passed away, all because a song came on the radio.

Music is a scary thing. The people and places our minds can recall all from a simple verse and melody.

Yet, instead of the usual onslaught of depression I typically feel when going down the path I usually try to avoid tonight, though sad; I feel an odd sense of peace I can’t quite explain.

On Monday, The Register-Guard — my former employer — laid off seven-percent of its workforce. This, after negotiating with the Union earlier this year for employees to take week-long unpaid furloughs in order to prevent layoffs.

Looks like those furloughs didn’t work, and now people who had already sacrificed are being asked to pay for it with their livelihoods; while those left behind are demoralized and wondering what their unpaid time was for, if not to prevent layoffs.

There’s no question the newspaper industry is struggling. It’s hard to blame a paper, such as The Register Guard, a medium sized publication in a medium sized town from needing to make cuts in order to survive. It’s the fashion in which they did it that’s completely unacceptable.

Venting his frustration, a former colleague and a great friend of mine, posted rather nakedly, his thoughts on the events of the day on Twitter and Facebook.

One such comment:

If a sports team’s failing the coach/GM get fired first. 21 RG workers lost jobs today; no suits among them. Accountability?

While I completely agreed with his reaction, I was immediately worried of the repercussions.

Today, this:

Even twitter & FB can be censored. Big brother is watching. Don’t ask, cuz I will explain nothing.

Yesterday’s comments had been deleted.

All this calls into question, what exactly is okay to be said on a personal forum in the heat of the moment?

Should an individuals’ voice be allowed to be censored or silenced by their company when that individual uses their own forum to vent their frustration?

Many, myself included, subscribe to the believe that Facebook, Twitter and other social media services should be treated no differently than if my friend had made that comment to a group of his buddies, even co-workers, at the local sports bar. In that context, his accountability statement is justified.

My Register Guard friend is not alone however. Just today, I came across this article from Wired Magazine, in which an Associated Press reporter was reprimanded for making comments criticizing the management of his newspaper.

“It seems like the ones who orchestrated the whole mess should be losing their jobs or getting pushed into smaller quarters,” Richtmyer wrote on May 28. “But they aren’t.”

McClathy, like countless other newspaper publishers, happens to be a member of the AP’s newsgathering cooperative. Had the comment been uttered in real life, it likely would have dissipated into the rank air of a Philly journo bar. But Richtmyer had some 51 AP colleagues as Facebook friends, some of them higher up in the AP food chain. One turned out to be a “mole” — Richtmyer’s description — and the reporter was given a firm talking-to by AP management, who put a reprimand letter in his employment file.

According to the Wired story, reprimands and firings over Facebook, Twitter and MySpace comments have become common place over the last year.

Publications dependent on the first amendment, stifled their own employees right to voice their opinion.

Now, I understand there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom from repercussions of that speech. It’s a slippery slope if you allow unchecked speech in all venues on all topics. That said, the context of that speech should be taken into consideration, and what is said among friends, even via the internet, should remain among friends and not be censored or punishable in any way.

I know that any comment made on the internet should go through a personal sensor of “is this going to hurt me down the road,” but at what level must we sensor ourselves from our beliefs, opinions and the truth?

Nothing that my friend said was a lie. It was all verifiable fact. Why is that a crime? Especially in the context of the comment among friends.

While my friend didn’t lose his job over the situation, his situation, and that of Richard Richtmyer’s show that it’s time for clear guidelines or laws protecting speech in the digital age.