The news editor and former editor in chief of the Florida Agenda both quit last week when their newspaper management told them they would refuse to print an expose’ they were writing about ongoing thefts occurring at a nightclub that is one of the company’s prominent advertisers.
Dmitry Rashnitsov, the former editor who is now a part time writer for the Agenda, lost his cell phone at the Living Room Nightclub on a Friday night.
The Fort Lauderdale club has a huge young gay following on Fridays. Its ads appear on the inside cover of Mark Magazine, which is part of the Multi Media Platforms group, which also owns the Florida Agenda.
While investigating the theft, Rashnitsov discovered his loss was not an isolated incident. He learned through various postings on Facebook that a rather large number of individuals were losing their phones to thefts at the Living Room on Fridays. Fort Lauderdale Police told the victims, in filing police reports, that the club might be targeted by a professional group of pickpocket thieves.
“I contacted AT&T and was told calls were already being made to Cuba,” said Gene Inger, who lost his iPhone at the club. “The police told me that 6-10 people were losing their phones on Friday nights. And I was pick-pocketed for $200 as well. ”
Meanwhile, Jeremy Jones, the new editor of the Florida Agenda, decided to do a story in the paper revealing the thefts, hoping to alert the LGBT community of the danger. Jones and Rashnitsov only worked part-time at the Agenda and both are employed full time in another field, holding marketing jobs in the not-for-profit sector.
“Still, I felt I had to do the story,” Jones said. “Patrons are being taken advantage of and no one was doing anything about it.”
But when the Living Room’s Mark Lowe got word of it, he purportedly pressured the Agenda to drop the story or he would pull his advertising in several company-operated magazines.
Jones confirmed he had reached out to Lowe to interview him, but instead heard back from the Agenda’s publisher that the story would not be run. Jones told his bosses he and his partner would quit if their story was not going to be published.
“Your principles are part of your character,” Jones said. “And if you give up your principles, you give up your character.” Both Jones and Rashnitsov resigned from the newspaper in early February.
“The problem is still there, and the thefts are still happening,” said Jones. “Patrons and the community had a right to know about it.”
Lowe did not respond to calls for comments.
Editor’s note: Norm Kent is the editor and publisher of South Florida Gay News and this article is used with permission.
