Tell Twitter, tell the world
You’d think with all the cautions about social media today, certain things wouldn’t happen: Like one of CNN’s Middle East top editors Tweeting about her “respect” for the Shiite cleric the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Prompting the Tweet was Fadlallah’s death this past Sunday.
Within hours, Octavia Nasr had been fired.
According to The New York Times, Nasr Tweeted: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”
Fadlallah was an inspiration to militants and an advocate of suicide bombings, The Times said.
I am sure in hindsight, most anyone would see the problem with this post.
Here’s another reminder: If you say it on Twitter, Facebook, etc., you’ve said it to everybody. Perhaps if Nasr had made the comment in a conversation and it was repeated, she’d survive her gaffe. But with Twitter and its cousins, there is no taking it back, no spinning and no explaining.
Just a 109-character post can cost you.
You can’t say it too many times: Think first, Tweet second.
Comments
Steve, I’m with you all the way on this. But “most anyone” isn’t everyone. I’ve seen comments online, after Nasr’s firing, about how silly mainstream media are for firing journalists who dare utter a personal opinion. These critics take the view that everyone’s biased, and the only requirement is transparency — which Nasr surely provided. Where you and I grew up, you put those opinions out of your head, and out of your public and even private expressions, to serve your readers with honest, fair coverage of all points of view. The latter-day view, I guess, holds that if everyone spouts their opinions, eventually truth prevails. Or something.
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