Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Facebook post gets TBN worker fired

Facebook has become the battleground for workplace issues with the latest involving a Trinity Broadcasting Network employee who was fired for a post that was critical of the Christian ministry’s leadership.

Recent workplace dust-ups have involved a variety of issues from employers asking workers to disclose their Facebook username and password so they can see what the employee or job applicant has posted to ordering removal of private posts that were perceived as derogatory.
All fell into the murky area of free speech and private activity versus employer rights.

The TBN case is different. Jonathan Rovetto, the now former assistant station engineer at TBN’s Milwaukee outlet, knew he likely would be fired but posted a rant on Facebook anyway.
His ire targeted TBN founders Jan and Paul Crouch, who are locked in a legal battle against their granddaughter, Brittany Crouch Koper, who accused them and the network of misusing the ministry’s funds.

Rovetto, 53, and a Brittany supporter, had been following developments in the case online and was becoming more upset with each revelation about how TBN was run.
He initially just began linking on Facebook to online Orange County Register stories about the litigation.  But two weeks ago, he said he decided he had to speak out.

“TBN, why should you care? Many people really dislike TBN and don’t watch,” he wrote on his Facebook wall. “Over the years people have been turned off by Jan’s pink hair, screaming preachers during Praise-A-Thon, and the heavy concentration of ‘Prosperity Teachers’ that fill the TBN schedule.”

Rovetto acknowledged the Crouches had built TBN into an international ministry.
“However, they have fallen into the trap that many other prosperity preachers/successful ministers have fallen into,” he wrote. “One word, ENTITLED. Their hard work and success have given them reason to believe they have done something to deserve a lifestyle of pleasure

and excess.”
He ended the post asking people to pray for Brittany.


READ MORE 

No comments: