Last May, Fred Varcoe, veteran sports editor of the Japan Times, was in full swing preparing for the World Cup finals when he was suddenly given an ultimatum: "Either resign or you're fired."
It was an abrupt end to his 15-year employment with the daily paper at what should have been the highpoint of his career. Fred was well known among British sports journalists and foreign correspondents (me included) as the most prolific writer on Japanese football in the English language.
His personal and irreverent style probably had as many critics as fans, but that was his well-established trademark. He also got some important scoops. The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, once blamed him for the headaches of co-hosting the World Cup, a suggestion that Fred claims he was the first to make.
But on the eve of the tournament, he was given his marching orders as a result of a report that appeared in another country, another language and another medium.
Fred had probably never heard of OhmyNews until the influential South Korean online news site brought about his downfall with a withering criticism of one of the World Cup preview stories that he had written for the Japan Times. That story - an introduction to Seoul - began with Fred reminiscing about being propositioned by a prostitute during his first visit to the South Korean capital.
It was exactly the kind of old-fashioned, run-down, sleazy image that the host nation - which has never been more self-confident or assertive - did not want to present to the world. The URL of the offending article was sent anonymously to Bae Eul-sun of OhmyNews, who criticised the contents and the writer online in her own trademark aggressive style.
Although Ms Bae had not called for Fred to lose his job, her article spawned a furious online campaign for his dismissal. Fred's Korean wife received email death threats and the South Korean embassy in Tokyo twice visited the Japan Times to demand action.
Although the paper had been running similar stories by Fred for years and no one inside the paper had complained at any time when the offending article was submitted, edited or published, the Japan Times - whose publisher, Toshiaki Ogasawara, has business interests in Korea - decided its sports editor must go. Days before the opening game, the paper withdrew his tournament accreditation. He refused to resign and was fired on July 4 for, among other reasons, "insulting the honour of Korean women".
It appears to be a salutary tale of the risks of online journalism, which is still at an embryonic stage even in South Korea - the world's most advanced internet nation. Although the new media have played a mostly positive role in democratising South Korea in ways that other countries have not yet experienced, its ambitions are in danger of running too far ahead of its resources and the establishment of safety checks.
OhmyNews is just three years old, but with 3 million readers it has become as influential as any newspaper - helping to propel Roh Moo-hyon into the presidency and starting anti-American campaigns that drew in tens of thousands of people. But its young, idealistic staff admit they are too rushed off their feet to check the comments posted by readers.
"I feel guilty," said Bae Eul-sun. "It was not my intention to get Fred sacked. That was a proposal by one of the readers. Even though his article was insulting, I don't think it is democratic to fire journalists just because you don't like what they say."
The South Korean embassy also claims the consequences were unintended. "We passed on the feeling of anger expressed on OhmyNews about Mr Varcoe's yellow journalism, but we did not specifically ask for him to be fired," said a diplomat.
Nobody at the Japan Times was available for comment. According to Fred, his old employers share the biggest burden of blame for failing to stick by a story that they had published.
"This would never have started without OhmyNews, which is able to fire off insults unchecked, but the biggest culprit is the Japan Times, which would not fight my corner or give me the opportunity to defend myself," he said.
Fred will file a legal case against the paper for unfair dismissal next week. If he wins, his former employers may end up wishing they had followed the old-media journalistic principle of sticking by a story rather than caving in to pressure from the South Korean government and accusations by a sometimes wild new media.