Like any hulking, modern news organization, the New York Times has long provided its people training in best practices on social media. There are guidelines to be followed, social media editors to be consulted and good sense to be heeded. When a Jerusalem bureau chief came under criticism for some edgy tweets a few years back, she acquired an in-house Twitter minder.
No institutional precautions short of a team of four hundred Twitter editors, however, could have stopped the crisis that hangs over the paper thanks to a tweet published by a New York Times staffer. Philip B. Richardson yesterday afternoon lashed out: “F— you Jeb Bush for telling poor people they need stronger families to not be poor. Poverty weakens families.”
Post decency standards prevent the Erik Wemple Blog from embedding the tweet in this blog. It was later deleted.
Fair to say that Richardson’s tweet tramples every last syllable of this general guideline laid out by associate managing editor for standards Philip B. Corbett:
[Y]ou are a Times journalist, and your online behavior should be appropriate for a Times journalist. Readers will inevitably associate anything you post on social media with The Times.
Those two basic principles should be enough to guide us in most situations. Be thoughtful. Take care that nothing you say online will undercut your credibility as a journalist. Newsroom staff members should avoid editorializing or promoting political views. And we should be civil – even to critics – and avoid personal attacks and offensive remarks.
Bold text inserted to highlight the portions of these paragraphs that Richardson violated.
How does the New York Times respond to this social media scandal? By stressing the tweeter’s place in the Times career ladder:
“This tweet was completely inappropriate. Philip Richardson is a news assistant on The Times’s clerical staff, assigned to the photo desk. He is not a reporter or editor and is not involved in political coverage. Nevertheless, tweets like this are inappropriate for any Times newsroom staffer, and managers will take the necessary steps to deal with the situation.”
A Nexis search under Richardson’s byline turns up a handful of blog posts and other items.
We asked whether any disciplinary measures had yet been taken. No response yet from the New York Times.
The rush of news stories and other commentary on Richardson’s Jeb Bush thoughts will abate by the weekend. Yet this posting will dog Richardson’s colleagues for many years to come. Whenever Republican politicians — like, for example, Jeb Bush! — find themselves on the business end of a New York Times story, it won’t matter how perfectly reported the piece may be: Richardson’s tweet will serve as a handy implement for anyone wishing to discredit the paper for lefty bias.
