An interesting bit of news floating thru the internet journalism community, about Atlanta Progressive News senior journalist Jonathan Springston losing his job.

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2010/02/15/atlanta-progressive-news-fires-reporter-for-trying-to-be-objective/

"In an e-mail statement, editor Matthew Cardinale says Springston was asked to leave APN last week “because he held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News.”"

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As many of our readers know, we are in the midst of a major website redesign and relaunch that will result in new content and new forms of content, as well as tools to empower our readers to meaningfully participate in the democratic process. Part of that has meant going back to our core mission and re-examining how every part of what we do is consistent with, and advances, that mission.

In the end, we had to make a very difficult decision to move forward as a publication without Jonathan Springston. Last Wednesday, we informed him it seemed more appropriate if he found work with another publication or started his own publication.

At a very fundamental, core level, Springston did not share our vision for a news publication with a progressive perspective. He held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News. It just wasn’t the right fit.

I was looking at a few of Springston's recent articles trying to find signs of  "objective reality". Altho we might not find anything, it could be that the disagreement about objectivity was happening more behind the scenes. I rather liked a recent article about health care, and it seemed appropriately progressively spun to me.

http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0596.html

Despite passage of different versions of comprehensive health care reform in the US House and Senate, reconciliation of those bills was complicated by the recent loss of the Massachusetts US Senate seat formerly represented by the late US Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to a Republican, US Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), in a Special Election last month.

Failure to succeed could result in lost support in November 2010’s upcoming Midterm Elections, according to a recent survey by MoveOn.org.

A recent survey Moveon says represents 3.3 million of its 5 million members--taken between January 25 and 26, 2010--found that 71 percent would probably or definitely will not donate to Democratic candidates in 2010 if the party fails to pass comprehensive healthcare reform.

Moreover, 65 percent say they probably or definitely will not volunteer for Democratic candidates in the same situation.

In 2008, MoveOn members contributed $125 million and 20.8 million volunteer hours to President Obama and other Democratic candidates.

"Backing off completely because someone gets elected in Massachusetts is ridiculous," Steve Toggerson, a lead organizer with MoveOn Gwinnett, told Atlanta Progressive News on Tuesday, February 02, 2010. "We don’t want people who were working for us to back down."

Toggerson and about 20 other MoveOn Gwinnett members rallied outside the Tucker office of US Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), a strong proponent of healthcare reform and the public option, on Tuesday.

"If the Democrats don’t fight, they risk alienating voters and donors," Toggerson said. "The Democrats cannot afford to lose this valuable segment of voters and volunteers."