Over the weekend, a staffer at The Vanguard at the University of South Alabama accidentally sent a political smackdown of a tweet to supporters of presidential candidate Mitt Romney– on the Vanguard’s Twitter account.
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The tweet, according to local TV news in Alabama: “Can’t want [sic] to tell Romney supporters to sit the f*ck down on Tuesday. #Obama12.“ The staffer apparently thought they were posting to their personal account.
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Nevertheless, predictably, the tweet’s perceived partisanship and profanity stirred some angry reactions in the Twitterverse and prompted a series of tweeted mea culpas and an apology in yesterday’s Vanguard.
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Disgusting. Their ‘apology’ misses the mark completely. The ‘staff member’ should be identified and fired immediately.
The newspaper needs to realize that the text of the tweet wasn’t the main problem: if those were the views of a senior editor or reporter, it should be disclosed to their readers.
It’s also worth noting that anyone who wants to tweet that, even on a personal account, has tremendous maturity issues.