An angry reader has offered an editorial chief £10,000 to fight a weekly newspaper journalist with whom he has a grievance.
The wealthy reader, described as a “regular, rich complainant,” offered the cash to KM Group editorial director Ian Carter in exchange for allowing him fight the reporter, who works for the Kent Messenger.
It is understood the reader, a landlord based in Maidstone, has a “long-running grievance” with the journalist in question and made the offer during a 53-minute phone call to Ian on Thursday.
Ian posted about the complaint on Twitter, joking the venture could open up a “new revenue stream” for the local press group.
He tweeted: “Just spend 53 minutes on the phone to regular, rich complainant who has offered me £10k [if] I’ll let him fight the reporter who upset him.
“Lots of interest from fellow editors in offer I got from a reader who wants to pay £10k to fight a KM journalist. New revenue stream ahoy.”
One reader urged Ian to take the offer and give half the cash to the reporter in question, to which he replied: “Just checking the Editors’ Code, can’t see any reason not to.”
Ian told HTFP: “The reporter was pretty tempted too. Sadly I had to decline though.”
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Good grief. Once upon a time idiots would have been given short shrift. Now, they get 53 minutes on the phone.
Complaints are/were par for the course for the newspapers. Given there are no clues about the issues being reported that have sparked this anger, there’s no way of knowing whether the chap’s upset is understandable.
However, having run the gauntlet of aggressive and violent characters as a journalist, I’d gladly take the £10,000 and be able to fight them rather than simply always having to walk away.
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Posting about the complaint in the first place is hardly very professional.
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Blimey, folks. Lighten up.
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As someone who has spent years involved in amateur boxing I can quite categorically state that this would NOT have been a good idea.
Not so very long ago this ‘rich complainant’ would have been viewed as a member of the green ink brigade and barely given the time of day.
Having said that, a good, crisp left jab would probably have forced him to have a re-think…
Is it just me or do people generally possess shorter fuses these days?
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Not a bad new revenues idea, though…
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It’s emails & social media, Mr Kolchak. It takes time & effort to write a letter, even in green ink. Today they can leap to their keyboard and explode all over Facebook or Twitter or the editor’s inbox virtually without having to think about it. I blame them for most of today’s social ills, from Donald Trump & Brexit to Boaty McBoatface.
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The photo used is of a boxing bout, but I can’t find anything in the story to confirm the ‘fight’ would have taken place in the ring rather than the two men having a scrap in a car park etc.
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It’s a professional fight, too!
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I love the concept of the editorial director “allowing” the angry reader to fight the reporter for £10,000.
Does the reporter have any say in it or is he compelled to risk his own life and limb just because the editorial director tells him to.
Nothing would surprise me these days.
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@archantlifer
Im surprised fighting with a member of the public st the editors behest isn’t included on the ever growing job description of a junior these days along with multi tasking copy,social media scraping and iPhone snapping,
As long as someone coughs up the money I’m sure any editor would take it,probably with the commercial chief even throwing in a free advert on the poor journos boot soles by way of a ‘sweetener’!
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