bloggers, beware

A blogger gets fired from his day job at the WaPo for exercising his freedom of speech:

A Washington Post staffer who had been blogging at a sports-themed Web site apparently lost his job after editors came across some profane-laden postings that also identified him as a Post scribe.

Michael Tunison, who blogged under the name “Christmas Ape” at the “Kissing Suzy Kolber” site, wrote on Wednesday that he had been fired for “bringing discredit to the paper.”

Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. confirmed that Tunison no longer worked at the paper and had left his job on Wednesday, but would not specify if he resigned or was fired. “We don’t discuss personnel matters, but we have standards for people’s outside work,” Downie told E&P. “You need to clear it with your editors here before and it should not be a conflict of interest.”

Free speech isn’t free. Proceed at your own risk.