Ground rules

I will stop this before it gets started. The reason for this blog is to point out the ongoing tolerance Media General has for sexual harassment and bullying and the degrading atmosphere they provide for women at The Danville Register & Bee.

While former Reidsville (A Media General newspaper) editor Jeffrey Sykes had a criminal conviction for attempted arson and apparently harmed some people and reputations - his mental condition and those of others is not fair game for derogatory comment.

I have PTSD triggered by the bullying I received at The Danville Register & Bee. It makes it hard to focus, to think, to work. PTSD affects memory, your ability to sleep and it can cause depression. My PTSD was caused - according to my doctors and a sleep study I had at Duke - by the situation at The Danville Register & Bee. More than just the video - I was subjected to the freeze outs, verbal remarks and bullying tactics (see other posts on this blog) as well. The atmosphere and work environment reflects that.

A vast majority of employees at The Danville Register & Bee are morbidly, extremely obese. Obesity being in any psychologist's book, a symptom of needing "emotional protection" and considered by some to be a form of emotional and mental illness. I know of several who are on anti-depressants. Many struggle to get through the day. But bouts of less than perfect mental and emotional health is something ALL of us will go through at sometime in our lives.

We will lose a loved one. We will grieve. We may have a disease or a spouse may become incapacitated. We will become depressed, get bad news - there are many reasons at some point in time we have a mild or extreme mental or emotional illness. A mental/emotional illness is no different than a physical deformity or disease.

It is neither compassionate nor fair to attack someone on the basis of their mental or emotional health. That's kicking someone when they're down - so please don't criticize Jeffrey (I don't know him - never met him) or anyone else on the basis of a mental illness. Is alcoholism a mental illness? I don't know. It's a disease - according to the information I've found. And like any - should be treated. Media General failed its employees there as well.

There are supposed to be safeguards in place for employees to be confronted and sent for treatment if they have drug/alcohol addictions. Partying WITH THEM next time and the next time isn't the answer to helping them if you are truly a friend. Apparently no one really cared about John Coscia when he came in with his first DUI...let alone his second and third. Some friends he and Jeffrey had huh?


Thanks for understanding. There is however, no excuse for videotaping businesswomen without their consent and flashing the video around the newsroom and making rude comments about a woman's anatomy. You're just a plain PIG for that and a bigger PIG for allowing it to go on unpunished.