In a shocking example of someone not leaking a memo to me, Jim Romenesko's blog reprints this jaw-dropper from Minnesota Independent's parent outfit, Center for Independent Media.

In essence, the memo tells the chain's remaining muckraking journalists not to talk to muckraking journalists calling about recent budget slashing.

The memo's author, local CIM official Robin Marty, demands reporters funnel inquiries to her for an official response.

For the record, I've emailed Marty — no response. CIM spokesperson Dan Walter, emailed me Monday that "a letter from the publisher on the site tomorrow explaining the situation" would be posted — it wasn't. And requests to interview CIM poohbah David Bennahum have been met with Walter's cordial stonewalling (though a Colorado site gets hilariously contradictory interviews with CIM's leadership here.)

If Bennahum thought this was going to blow over, Romenesko just blew him up.

Here's the memo:

Memo to Center for Independent Media employees

Hi, everyone. I know the last 24 hours have been a lot to think about. We also understand that one of the the assets of online media is that everyone knows lots of reporters, and has established very close relationships with their media, both local and national. I need to ask you all to please not respond to media questions about the CIM and our restructuring process.

If you receive any calls or emails, please forward that information on to me so I can direct inquiries to the proper channel. It is imperative that you do not talk to the media yourself about this issue. Any violation of this will be grounds for immediate dismissal.

Thank you for your assistance in this, and one again, thank you all for continuing on with us. If you have any questions, please do hesitate to contact me.

Robin Marty
Deputy Program Director
Center for Independent Media