Newsrooms have a certain reputation for schlubiness. No more, decrees IBT Media, the new owner of the Newsweek brand recently put out to pasture by Barry Diller’s IAC. In order to spur a revitalization of the digital title, the company is instituting some new rules. For one, according to the not-pleased Newspaper Guild, IBT “[prohibits] its journalists and other employees from discussing their working conditions or criticizing their employer,” potentially in violation of labor laws. But it gets worse.
Via Politico, which obtained the entire “International Business Times Employee Handbook”:
In addition to the rules pertaining to negative discussion, IBT staff are required to follow a dress code that prohbitis denim jeans, sneakers and baseball caps, among other articles of clothing. “Open-toe sandals are not permitted.” Hair must be its “natural color,” and well groomed. Staffers who do show up to work without meeting these requirements “will be asked to return home to change into suitable clothing.”
And suddenly everyone left really misses Tina Brown.
Update: It gets much more specific in the full text:
