Should Sexist Sportswriter Be Fired?
SodaHead Sports
2012/05/03 19:00:00
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97 votes
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97 votes
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50% | |||
There's always someone who seems to be making the "Are you serious?!" section of the news these days, specifically in sports. Only this time around, it's not an athlete or coach saying something stupid. It's a person who's supposed to be covering sports in a fair, balanced, and professional manner: a sportswriter.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Joe Cowley has found himself in the news and the butt of jokes all across the blog-o-sphere. Deadspin and Awful Announcing both reported Cowley's offensively sexist tweets, which consisted of enlightening content about airline stewardesses who allegedly look like men, a note about how Cowley is truly "Mr. Handsome," and another tweet about how one fellow sportswriter should "hottie up" her Twitter profile picture. Seriously.
So what does Cowley do when the media (and the aforementioned female sportswriter) calls him out on his unprofessionalism? He deletes his Twitter account, without even issuing an apology. Ironically, the Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times' rival newspaper, was the first to report Cowley has been put on final warning, meaning if he screws up again, he's fired. Too bad reports have now leaked that this isn't the first time Cowley's conduct has been less than upstanding. With all the young, hungry, and honest journalists out there looking for work, should a guy with such poor judgment like Joe Cowley really be spared his job?
The Chicago Sun-Times' Joe Cowley has found himself in the news and the butt of jokes all across the blog-o-sphere. Deadspin and Awful Announcing both reported Cowley's offensively sexist tweets, which consisted of enlightening content about airline stewardesses who allegedly look like men, a note about how Cowley is truly "Mr. Handsome," and another tweet about how one fellow sportswriter should "hottie up" her Twitter profile picture. Seriously.
So what does Cowley do when the media (and the aforementioned female sportswriter) calls him out on his unprofessionalism? He deletes his Twitter account, without even issuing an apology. Ironically, the Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times' rival newspaper, was the first to report Cowley has been put on final warning, meaning if he screws up again, he's fired. Too bad reports have now leaked that this isn't the first time Cowley's conduct has been less than upstanding. With all the young, hungry, and honest journalists out there looking for work, should a guy with such poor judgment like Joe Cowley really be spared his job?
Top Opinion
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PhantomDream 2012/05/03 21:44:49
And yes it is censorship, it is censorship via coercion. You may not like what he said, but he did not say it in the capacity of "sports reporter" he said it as Joe Cowley.
Perhaps this is a strong argument for writers, authors, and other commentators to keep their personal twitters private.
So his personal account wasn't "personal" enough, what if it was private and his comments were retweeted? Does that make it personal enough?
He is a sports writer, not an airline critic... Nothing he said fell into the purview of his employed function. Why should it reflect on his work? It may reflect on him as a person but not as a sports writer.
So, you are saying that his personal account wasn't "personal" enough. Ridiculous! If its not his words that offend you, merely the forum in which he says them, then maybe you should just stay off the internet.
Enlighten me... explain "freedom of speech", since I'm not sure you quite understand the entire idea.