The Washington Post suspended a reporter who posted a negative article about basketball star Kobe Bryant shortly after he died in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
Felicia Sonmez posted a link to a 2016 article detailing rape allegations against Bryant in 2003 shortly after Bryant died. The case the article refers to was ultimately dropped and a civil case was settled out of court.
After harsh backlash, Sonmez defended herself by urging people to “please take a moment and read the story” she shared.
“Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality even if that public figure is beloved and that totality unsettling,” she wrote.
“That folks are responding with rage and threats toward me (someone who didn’t even write the piece but found it well-reported) speaks volumes about the pressure people come under to stay silent in these cases.”
Kobe Bryant is pictured with his daughter Gianna at the WNBA All Star Game at Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jul 27, 2019. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters)Sonmez at one point posted a screenshot of her email inbox that included full names of people who emailed her about posting the story. Sonmez, who deleted the four tweets she sent about Bryant, was suspended later Sunday.
The paper’s managing editor, Tracy Grant, sent out a statement to news outlets.
“National political reporter Felicia Sonmez was placed on administrative leave while The Post reviews whether tweets about the death of Kobe Bryant violated The Post newsroom’s social media policy,” the statement reads.
“The tweets displayed poor judgment that undermined the work of her colleagues,” Grant added.
Sonmez’s tweet came amid a slew of errors or dubious decisions by media surrounding the reporting on Bryant’s death.
In one example, ABC reporter Matt Gutman reported on air, “The fact that four of his children are believed to be on that helicopter with him, all daughters, one of them a newborn, is simply devastating.”
Only one of Bryant’s daughters was actually on the chopper.
Later on air, Gutman said his reporting was “incorrect.”
“I apologize for those remarks earlier about Kobe’s family on that helicopter,” he said.
ABC didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The BBC ran a report about Bryant’s death that showed footage of Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James playing, including footage of the back of James’s jersey, which shows his name.
Paul Royall, an editor at the corporation, said in a statement, “We mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report.”
“We apologize for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the program,” he added.
This article is from the Internet:Washington Post Reporter Suspended Over Tweets Following Death of Kobe Bryant