Cleveland critic loses

Donald Rosenberg, who was removed from covering and reviewing the Cleveland Orchestra after the orchestra complained to his newspaper, The Plain Dealer, about his negative reviews of conductor Franz Welser-Möst, has lost his lawsuit against the paper and orchestra.

Rosenberg had sued The Plain Dealer and its editor for age discrimination (the critic is 58) and the Cleveland Orchestra's parent organization and its officers for interference and defamation, Daniel J. Wakin reports in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/arts/music/07critic.html

Rosenberg's suit "was a brave and worthy battle to fight on behalf of those who were hired to offer our opinions about artistic quality," writes The Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/2010/08/music_critic_loses_case_agains.html

(Disclosure: I was among the critics who signed a letter of protest to The Plain Dealer after Rosenberg's reassignment in 2008.)