RE: Tis the Season for Cheating? (2)
Chris Vaughn Fired from Bluff
Per the Bluff Media website, Chris Vaughn has been fired from his position as the Bluff Magazine’s Managing Editor due to his role in the Full Tilt cheating scandal with online pro Sorel Mizzi.
Bluff Media, publisher of Bluff Magazine, has made the decision to terminate Chris Vaughn as Managing Editor. In light of Chris’ involvement, recently admitted facts and the feedback obtained from industry professionals, it became apparent that the credibility required to perform the job functions of Managing Editor of Bluff Magazine at our company’s level of standards have become severely diminished. While we regret having to make this decision, we believe that it is the best alternative for all parties involved, including Chris, Bluff Media and the poker playing community at large. We wish Chris the best of luck.
DanM says:
December 10th, 2007 at 5:31pm
I noticed Bluff removed him from their article archives. If that is indeed the case, that’s too bad. (Very PokerPages-y.)
I was trying to search for an old article of his. Wasn’t Vaughn the guy who first wrote about ZeeJustin in Bluff?
DanM says:
December 10th, 2007 at 5:37pm
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/bywriter.asp
Chris L says:
December 10th, 2007 at 6:48pm
Good…about time
California Jen says:
December 10th, 2007 at 10:50pm
To be honest, I tried to look up some articles by Chris on Bluff’s website several weeks ago, and he wasn’t listed there at that time either. I don’t believe they removed him because of his termination from Bluff.
Mean Gene says:
December 11th, 2007 at 1:23am
I checked the New Republic to see if they removed the articles written by Stephen Glass, who was exposed as a serial fabricator a few years ago. Looks like they purged everything he wrote for them–or, at least, a search there under his name came up empty. I’m not sure I agree with that, since it’s possible Vaughn wrote articles that were worth archiving, or possibly he wrote things that help someone investigating this scandal come up with new lines of inquiry. Well, maybe that’s a good reason to wipe the slate clean. Keeping his articles online with a caveat that says “Chris Vaughn was fired by Bluff Magazine because he cheated and lied” might be an extreme punishment, as I suppose he at least deserves to be allowed to fade into the darkness.
The fact that Vaughn wasn’t fired immediately could, I suppose, be taken as an act of mercy. The folks at Bluff probably liked him and maybe he’s a nice guy, but if you’re running a magazine, and your managing editor is an admitted cheat and liar…it rather hurts your credibility, yes? Whoever wrote the Bluff statement announcing his termination really should have omitted the line “…and the feedback obtained from industry professionals”. You’re running a magazine–you cannot have a person who cheated and lied about it on your staff. You shouldn’t need “feedback from industry professionals”. You ARE industry professionals, for Chrissakes.
DanM says:
December 11th, 2007 at 12:21pm
Not sure it’s the exact same thing, Gene, because in Glass’ case, his offense was — I forget, either plagiarism or total fabrication — something that sullied the credibility of all his journalistic endeavors. (am checking now to see if the new york times removed all semblance of jayson blair.)
but in this case, vaughn didn’t do anything wrong journalistically — it’s not like he made up quotes or anything — he just cheated at poker.
I dunno, not sure how I feel about it. But I think there is an irony in that I am pretty sure he made a name for himself by writing the kinds of stories that were not just blatant promotion of poker. If he did indeed write the story about ZeeJustin, well, it’s telling of … er, something.
Mean Gene says:
December 13th, 2007 at 10:02pm
Glass made stuff up out of whole cloth, his stories were works for fiction. Which is the equivalent of lying. The fact that Vaughn cheated at poker (which is the field he works in) was enough for him to be terminated, but the fact that he went on a radio show and lied about what he did certainly violates journalistic ethics.
One big difference between Vaughn and Glass (or Blair) is that Bluff really had nothing to do with it. He played the tournaments on his own, did the deal with Mizzi on his own, and chose to do the interview himself. He wasn’t on the show because of something he wrote or because he’s Bluff’s managing editor but because he won two huge events back to back. That makes it more of a black eye for poker in general than poker journalism.
California Jen says:
December 13th, 2007 at 10:32pm
Ahhh, Gene, I disagree. I think Vaughn made this a Bluff issue. First, his screen name was BluffMagCV, which used the name of his employer. Second, the only reason two tournaments deserved its original hoopla was because he was a young magazine editor who suddenly jumped from writing about poker to playing it. If he wasn’t an editor at Bluff, it wouldn’t have made such a splash – my belief anyway. I think his job and poker wins were too intertwined that separating the two, especially with the bad publicity, were not possible.