A Colorado Gazette newspaper reporter was placed on leave after refusing to take down a post from his Facebook wall that linked to a Los Angeles Times article about the sale of the Gazette's parent company, Freedom Communications, according to Poynter. Multimedia journalist Barrett Tryon was placed on "administrative leave" -- it's unclear whether that leave is paid or unpaid -- pending an investigation, reported the Colorado Springs Independent.

Tryon was told that his post on his own personal Facebook page violated the newspaper's social media policy, explained Mashable. According to media analyst Jim Romenesko, Tryon was sent him an email with an excerpt from the policy, stating: “Freedom Communications, Inc.’s Associate Handbook/Confidentiality and Proprietary Rights policy prohibits you from posting disparaging or defamatory statements about the company or its business interests, but you should also avoid social media communications that might be misconstrued in a way that could damage the company’s goodwill and business reputation, even indirectly.”

Tryon's situation is "exactly the kind of restriction" the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) "has been labeling an 'overly broad' gag order on workers’ rights," Poynter noted.

A 24-page memo from the NLRB highlights six cases where parts of companies' social media policies were found to be unlawful, such as warnings to “think carefully about ‘friending’ co-workers,” and prohibitions on expressing opinions about "the workplace, work satisfaction or dissatisfaction, wages hours or work conditions.”

TechDirt called the incident "crazy," noting that this is just the latest example of newspapers' "backwards" social media policies taken to "ridiculous extremes."

News media companies have come under fire for their social media guidelines, which critics contend are overly restrictive and demonstrate that companies just don't understand the value of Facebook and Twitter in the newsroom.

See this Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas Twitter feed with more examples related to journalists reprimanded for their social media use.