During interview, NPR reporter laughs at Keith Hempstead, the goofball McClatchy subscriber who is suing the News & Observer

Keith Hempstead, the McClatchy subscriber who is suing the News & Observer over its planned layoffs, is out giving interviews and milking his lawsuit for more attention. I probably shouldn't give this nutcase any more attention. But after reading the transcript of Hempstead's interview with NPR, I thought NPR had a newsworthy way to handle this guy:

BROOKE GLADSTONE: News organizations, editors and bloggers all are dealing with the financial difficulties newspapers face, but what about readers? What recourse have they if they're upset with a paper’s efforts to downsize? They could write a letter, cancel their subscription, or even —sue? That’s the line of attack chosen by a newspaper reader in Durham, North Carolina.

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Attorney Keith Hempstead recently filed a lawsuit against his local paper, The News and Observer, and its parent company, McClatchy Newspapers, after they laid off 70 employees and announced cuts to the news pages. He says he’s mad, and he’s not going to take it any more.

KEITH HEMPSTEAD: I'm suing because I'm upset with the state of the newspaper industry in general, and I feel like I can represent subscribers to the various McClatchy newspapers that are frankly upset with the state of the industry and how it’s being run.

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BROOKE GLADSTONE: But what’s the charge?

KEITH HEMPSTEAD: The charge in this case is fraud.

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BROOKE GLADSTONE: [LAUGHS]

KEITH HEMPSTEAD: I'm stating or alleging that when I renewed my newspaper subscription, I was relying upon a superior product, but with these cuts, that were announced after I renewed the newspaper, I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick.

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I liken it to someone who buys a ticket to go cross country on an airline and the airline announces that they instead will be flying only to Denver versus, say, Los Angeles.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: [LAUGHS]

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KEITH HEMPSTEAD: Well, I am able to take a flight but it’s not to my intended destination.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Forgive me here, but most unsatisfied readers would just cancel their subscription. Why did you decide to take the legal route?

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KEITH HEMPSTEAD: Because I realize, as a former newspaper reporter, that canceling a single subscription doesn't really send a point to the newspaper. I feel like this is a way of firing a shot across the bow of the newspaper industry.

Sometimes ridicule is the best way to handle people like Keith Hempstead. Congrats to Brooke Gladstone.

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