Tom Shales: I'm Leaving Washington Post, Am Heavily In Debt

[RamboLiberal]

Tom Shales, the Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic for the Washington Post, confirmed that he is likely to leave the paper on December 31st, after 39 years there.

In a lengthy, candid interview with TBD.com on Thursday, Shales said that his contract expires at the end of the year. He has not been an official staffer with the Post since 2006, when he took a buyout and went on contract. Now, he told TBD, the Post has told him they cannot afford his current contract.

In addition, Shales said he is facing serious financial troubles:

The lump sum he took from the buyout is gone, Shales says Thursday night, on the phone from his house in McLean. "I either frittered it or the stock market ate it." And his contract, Shales says, isn't nearly as lucrative as his former salary... "it's scary, damn scary," he says. "Plus I'm so heavily in debt and my house is underwater. Suddenly I'm a cross-section of the American public."

Shales has been with the Post since 1971. He became the paper's chief television critic in 1977 -- a post he held until last year -- and won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988. Earlier this year, he stirred controversy when he harshly criticized ABC for its hiring of Christiane Amanpour as the new host of "This Week."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/tom-shales-im-leaving-wapo_n_772309.html

:nopity:

[provis99]

1. Shales defines the phrase turd in a punch bowl.

He hasn't been relevant in years, and is just a nasty bastard. Now he's blown millions of dollars foolishly and is running around proclaiming how sorry he is for himself?
:nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[Skittles]

3. CORRECT

yes INDEED

[Ken Burch]

6. I doubt he ever loaned fifty bucks to any of the low-wage people the Post laid off over the years.

n/t.

[liberalhistorian]

21. Not only that, but such low-wage people probably had far more

important jobs to the welfare of society than television critic. FAR more important. What an arrogant blowhard.

[MiniMe]

2. And that, in a nutshell, is why social security shouldn't be priviatized

[unblock]

13. ding! ding! ding! exactly! everyone should have a guarantee

because ANYONE can have something unfortunate happen to them. whether it's of their unfortunate or stupid, no one should have to wonder how they are going to survive their elder years.

shales' story would be more pitiful if his money went away due to medical bills, but it hardly matters. even a few years of gross selfish profligate spending, or worse, donating all their money to the republican party, shouldn't leave someone without the means to survive old age. a civilized society doesn't leave people to starve for making a mistake.

[malletgirl02]

4. Pay

How much is the Washington Post Paying him if they can't afford his contract? How can one person be such a large portion of the Post expenses?

[spooky3]

15. Well, it may just be a nice way of saying "Zero $ is more than we want to pay you. Please go away."

[senseandsensibility]

5. Cry me a river

Not feeling his pain.

[Mimosa]

7. No tears here...

Whhen Shales was working he was making good money. I know many newspaper old-timers who lost their jobs because newspapers started dying during the late 1990s. The 'computer revolution' has been as cruel as the industrial revolution was to agricultural labourers.

Shales certainly can't say he didn't know this was coming. As for being a critic, he was always among the worst.

Shales' situation is different from most newspaper vets I've known. Most were the reverse of big spenders and lived well within their means.

[butterfly77]

25. Howie kurtz of reliable sources.

is worried about newspapers,maybe they should have reported the real news.Now they are worried about their jobs but,they weren't worried about ours as they helped wall street and continue to do so.

[90-percent]

8. Shales

Any TV critic that liked Mystery Science Theater 3000 can't be all bad.

-90% Jimmy

[Dappleganger]

9. Did he, now?

Our 17 yr. old has just discover that MST3K is all streaming from Netflix--he's so happy!

[90-percent]

10. I'm happy

I'm happy your 17 year old, almost 40 years my junior, is discovering MST3K!

I think Frank Coniff (TV's Frank) recently did a bit on Olbermann? He played a teabagger? Keith is a MST3K fan and had the current touring group on his show in the last few months. Joel is back with the troupe and they perform live, less the lovable 'bots.

I hope your 17 year old also goes out and catches some Zappa Plays Zappa shows. Dweezil tours constantly to try to expose a new generation to Frank's music.

There's a lot of Zappa/Mothers references in the old MST3K episodes. "Hi, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group" I think was in their send up of "It Conquered the World", a movie memorialized in Zappa's "Cheepnis", from Roxy and Elsewhere. Peter GRaves was in the original movie, and was also the host for the A&E bio show on Zappa, which is pretty hard to come by these days.

-90% Jimmy

[Dappleganger]

18. Thanks for the suggestions...

I'll pass them along. You know what they say, everything old is new again. ;)

[blogslut]

11. McLean, VA is a pretty high-dollar place to live

Maybe it's time for Mr. Shales to accept that his association with the very rich was never going to be a permanent thing.

[spooky3]

16. Here is what does not add up...

1) If he did not buy within the past 5 years, even if he put down the minimum, he is NOT underwater on his primary mortgage. McLean has kept its value quite well, as have most close-in suburbs.
2) If he did buy more recently, why would he have done so given the steady readership decline, layoffs, retirement buyouts, etc., during that time at the Post?

I suspect he bought a long time ago but took out a home equity loan and frittered it away on many things. But that is not being "underwater" on his house -- he spent that value, so it's no longer part of his house value and homebuyers aren't going to pay for his vacations, gambling, jewelry or whatever he spent it on.

And oh yeah, Tom, re: your retirement money, the market has recovered a lot of its value (not all of it) so if you didn't move the money since the big crash since 2007, you're still down 20% or so (depending on where you have the money). But that's not so extreme. And being on contract since 2006, again you would think he would have put it in safer than average investments since he doesn't have job security.

I don't think we are getting the truth here.

[monmouth]

12. Karma....This is how it works....n/t

[JamesA1102]

14. Couldn't happen to a nicer jerk! nt

[MorningGlow]

17. I kind of feel sorry for him

He may be an ass, but I am truly sad that so many noted columnists have been shunted over to the "contract worker" classification so the paper can avoid paying a decent salary and medical benefits. The SF Chronicle did the same thing to Mark Morford a little while ago, then they cut him down to one column a week to save even more money.

I dunno--I guess I'm just a bleeding heart for my fellow writers. Our profession is tough enough to break into, and then when the newspapers are up against it, they cut their biggest draws to save money in the short run. Seems dumb to me. But then again, I'm not a bean counter.

[madinmaryland]

20. You point out the human toll this is taking and I thank you.

As a consultant (telecom), I am lucky to have a salaried position with a consulting firm. There are a lot of firms that only look to bring in 1099'ers, which I have worked for and with over the last twenty years. I absolutely hate the way "contract workers" are used and abused by corporate america.

[devilgrrl]

19. Guess he'll just have to learn how to live within his means.

:nopity:

[Vickers]

22. Yo Skinner, EarlG, we're having a run on violins over here!!!

:nopity:

[CBGLuthier]

23. HEADLINE: AMERICAN GETS FUCKED: LIBERALS LAUGH

Compassion is a dead thing in this land.

[devilgrrl]

24. Oh please with the feigned outrage...

[Ikonoklast]

27. How about this for a headline...

I BLEW THROUGH MORE DOUGH THAN MOST AMERICANS WILL EVER SEE IN THEIR LIFETIMES, FEEL SORRY FOR ME BECAUSE I WAS A SPENDTHRIFT.


Shales seems to blame everyone but himself for his plight.

[dionysus]

26. lots of compassion for the guy on this thread...

[prolesunited]

28. Many of us had a lot less

and are still managing to scrape by. I got laid off and had a small buyout and made it last a very long time.

It's hard to sympathize with people who had so much and frittered it away. And their version of poor is VERY different from what people like me are living on a daily basis.

[dionysus]

29. yeah, but unless it's a rush or beck level douche, i have no joy in seeing them suffer.

if they guy is as big a prick as ppl here are treating him (i've never heard of the guy), maybe he'll be less of an ass now...

[prolesunited]

32. And I wasn't trashing the guy in this thread

I don't rejoice in others' suffering. I was just trying to explain why some might.

I think it also comes from the media elite's failure to cover their stories, the stories of working Americans facing hard times. I remember during the height of the recession, there were a bunch of stories on belt tightening. The suggestions seemed so out of touch and ludicrous to us ordinary people -- things like let the housekeeper go, mow your own lawn, discontinue the HD premium cable package, turning on your own stove, etc.

[devilgrrl]

33. I have no joy being told that I shouldn't take pleasure in someone's personal fiscal foolishness.

What's there to feel sorry for?

If Shales was physically ill, I would see your point but that is not the situation here.

[devilgrrl]

30. I reserve my compassion for those who make a LOT LESS thank you.

Perhaps he should have managed his money better. Funny how it is okay to tell people that when they don't make the kind of money Shales did. :popcorn:

[dionysus]

31. he might have family members who rely on his income to survive. i'm not into blanket condemnation.

[devilgrrl]

34. Oh well, I guess they'll just have to get by on a lot less like too many others.

eom

[Snarkoleptic]

35. Too many casino boondoggles with Bill Bennett?

[spooky3]

36. for those unfamiliar with Mr. Shales, here is evidence of his problem with women.

http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/05/11/washington-posts-sexist-tv-critic/

[HEyHEY]

37. Why does everyone hate this guy?

What did he do?