Otago Daily Times local news reporter Barry O’Barrigan was terminated from his position last Thursday following reports that he had been deliberately and maliciously refusing to include wordplay or puns in any of his story headlines. Editor-In-Chief Barry Stewart pointed out one egregious example: “He ran a story with the headline ‘Fans Excited for Milton Sheep Shearing Contest’ when the far more obvious line would have been ‘Shearers Shore to Excite Crowds’. That’s just plain unreasonable”.
ODT sports reporter Barry Sinclair said “being fired has really put O’Barrigan’s feet to the fire,” while political editor Barry Edwards said O’Barrigan had “always dismissed puns, but now he’s the one being dismissed’.