Reply #6: having seen the "backside" of the newspaper business, it wouldn't surprise me at ALL

[nashville_brook]

if the explanation were as simple as he needed to be silenced in order to please someone high up the food chain.

people have this notion that newspapers are bastions of rationalism and even-handed ethical behavior. they're old boys clubs -- even *some* (not all) of the so-called "alternative papers" like the free weeklies every good city has. this means that they are subject to the same back-biting, politicking and manipulation as any other business.

and dig this -- people behind the machinations of "the newspaper business" take their power-wielding extra seriously, so that getting rid of a pesky voice can be seen as being done for "the larger good" of THEIR interests. and make no mistake, "their interests" are the interests of the super elite. there's so solidarity with "the common person." that's for blogs.