Ashbrook should take responsibility for his own actions

Re “WBUR fires Ashbrook after inquiry into bullying’’ (Page A1, Feb. 15): I listened to Tom Ashbrook’s show, “On Point,’’ for years, and I admired his intelligence and interviewing skills a great deal. I no longer admire him.

I’m appalled at Ashbrook’s shameless attempts to dodge responsibility for failing to change his reportedly aggressive and boorish behavior toward his underlings. WBUR managers had approached Ashbrook about his bad behavior several times in an attempt to effect a change, to no avail. But upon being fired, Ashbrook asserts that WBUR “failed . . . to effectively address’’ his behavior. WBUR had addressed his behavior, and he ignored them. It was Ashbrook’s responsibility to treat his coworkers with respect, and he chose not to do so. WBUR was right to fire him.

Cristina Rosa Nelson

Jamaica Plain

In a newsroom, sharp content and sharp elbows often coincide

I never worked for Tom Ashbrook, and I haven’t read the reports distilled from interviews with his staff, but as someone who’s worked in and around newsrooms his whole career, I can attest that mercurial, perfectionistic talent is the norm. It’s fun to watch movies like “Broadcast News’’ or “The Paper’’ and see stylized versions of high-strung, manic producers or lovable, crotchety editors. But in real life, on a daily, nationally broadcast radio show that has to react to the day’s or even the moment’s news, not everyone is going to remember to be polite or use the correct salad fork.

Part of the educational process of working at WBUR might be learning that broadcasting is a tough business, and it isn’t for everyone. We’ll see if a kinder, gentler broadcast workplace yields a show that becomes flaccid and irrelevant.

Mike Chapman

Maynard

Host shown the door too soon

WBUR’s firing of Tom Ashbrook, besides being an exercise in shooting oneself in the foot, is like a parent putting up a child for adoption because the child did something wrong. Might you not first give the offender the chance to make changes?

Philip Mahler

Carlisle

The problem with crisis management? It waits till after the crisis

We will miss the voice of Tom Ashbrook, especially in these perilous political times.

I am a mediator-arbitrator, primarily in matters of labor and employment. I would not presume to assume facts that are not within my knowledge, so I won’t comment directly on the WBUR situation. I can say that I have arbitrated many cases that could have been resolved if a competent professional had been called upon to mediate much earlier.

I think what we all want in our personal and work lives is rapprochement, or resumption of harmonious relations. Companies spend a great deal of money on investigation and adjudication much too late, after feelings and positions have hardened. Most often, had they brought in a professional in the early stages of a conflict, they could have effected an amicable resolution.

Will we ever learn?

Karen Andres

Newton Centre