Categories: OLD Media Moves

Company CEO threatens to fire employee for talking to reporter

The CEO and cofounder of HQ Trivia, Rus Yusupov, threatened to fire the popular host of its trivia show Scott Rogowsky for talking to a reporter from The Daily Beast.

Taylor Lorenz of The Daily Beast reports, “Because of his status as a rising celeb, The Daily Beast reached out to Rogowsky on Monday to write a lighthearted profile on his career and how his life has changed post-HQ fame.

“Scott agreed to the interview and chatted with The Daily Beast on Monday afternoon. The Daily Beast simultaneously reached out to the HQ public relations email account and Yusupov, one of HQ’s founders, letting him know of our plans to write a story about the show’s host.

“Several hours later, we received an email from Yusupov stating that HQ was ‘not making Scott available to discuss his involvement with HQ with the media/press.’ The reporter informed Yusupov that we had already interviewed Scott and that the story was nearing publication, but encouraged him to call us with any concerns.

“That’s when things went off the rails.

“Yusupov, the CEO of HQ, called the reporter’s cell phone and immediately raised his voice. He said that we were ‘completely unauthorized’ to write about Scott or HQ without his approval and that if we wrote any type of piece about Scott, he would lose his job.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

Wired senior writer Meaker is departing

Morgan Meaker, a senior writer for Wired covering Europe, is leaving the publication after three…

10 hours ago

CNBC’s head of events departing after 28 years

Nick Dunn, who is currently head of CNBC Events as senior vice president and managing…

11 hours ago

WSJ taps Beaudette to oversee business, finance and economy

Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker sent out the following on Friday: Dear…

19 hours ago

NY Times taps Searcey to cover wealth and power

New York Times metro editor Nestor Ramos sent out the following on Friday: We are delighted to…

22 hours ago

The evolution of the WSJ beyond finance

Rahat Kapur of Campaign looks at the evolution The Wall Street Journal. Kapur writes, "The transformation…

2 days ago

Silicon Valley Biz Journal seeks a reporter

This position will be Hybrid in the office/market 3 days per week, and those days…

2 days ago