Witness for the plaintiff

Robert Finn, the retired music critic of the The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, weighs in on the paper's removal of Donald Rosenberg from reviewing concerts by the Cleveland Orchestra:

"Don Rosenberg was simply doing his job," Finn writes in an e-mail to a former colleague. "Whether you or I agree with him is quite beside the point. The main issue is that he was demoted for doing what he was hired to do. The [Plain Dealer] cannot claim that he is incompetent – after all, they are allowing him to review all sorts of other musical events. The only issue is that the orchestra management wanted him silenced and they got their wish."

Rosenberg has filed suit against the newspaper for age discrimination (he's 56) and against leaders of the orchestra's parent organization for defamation.

via Roldo, Romenesko