Media & Communications Law
Lawyer Drops Suit Against Paper for Cutting Staff, Devaluing Subscription
Posted Jul 29, 2008, 06:54 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A North Carolina lawyer who sued the News & Observer for cutting staff has dropped his lawsuit.
Durham lawyer Keith Hempstead said he abandoned his suit after achieving one of his goals—to get the news industry’s attention, the News & Observer reports. He had voiced his concerns about newsroom layoffs in interviews with publications ranging from Harper’s Magazine to The New Yorker.
Hempstead, a former reporter for the Fayetteville Observer, had renewed his subscription to the News & Observer just before it announced plans to lay off 70 staff members and trim its news space. Hempstead had claimed in the suit that the move breached his contract.
Hempstead explained his decision to drop the suit in an interview with the News & Observer. “If I didn't bring this up, those people arguing about [newsroom cutbacks] may not have been given a voice," he said. "By getting rid of staff, you're producing an inferior product that is dooming the newspaper industry into obsolescence."
A hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
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