Tenn. newspaper fires editor for Obama editorial headline

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A Tennessee newspaper said it has fired an editor for running a headline on an editorial telling President Barack Obama to "take your jobs plan and shove it."

Chattanooga Times Free Press Editor Drew Johnson posted the editorial Tuesday, the day Obama visited Chattanooga to deliver a speech on the economy, in which he proposed lowering U.S. corporate tax rates while increasing federal spending to promote employment.

The newspaper said Thursday Johnson "has been terminated after placing a headline on an editorial outside of normal editing procedures."

The newspaper said the headline -- "Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough" -- "was inappropriate for this newspaper."

The headline borrowed from country singer Johnny Paycheck's 1977 hit, "Take This Job and Shove It," written by David Allen Coe.

"It was not the original headline approved for publication, and Johnson violated the normal editing process when he changed the headline," the newspaper said, while pointing out Johnson's termination "had nothing to do with the content of the editorial, which criticized the president's job creation ideas and Chattanooga's Smart Grid."

Johnson defended his judgment in a Twitter post: "We change headlines all the time at the last minute. I had a filler headline in that stunk and thought of that Johnny Paycheck song."

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has a conservative Free Press editorial page and a liberal Times editorial page.