Miami Station Apologizes for Idiotic Tweet
/More proof as what NOT to do on social media.
WPLG in Miami showed how not to respond to a viewer, in this case happened to work for the Miami New Times.
The Miami station sent out a tweet and New Times staff writer Jessica Lipscomb pointed out that the station should have called an accused rapist an accused rapist.
She responded to WPLG with this:
Someone at the station thought all this rape talk was funny....you know because who doesn't think rape is hilarious. responded to Lipscomb with this:
First off, Lipscomb is not a kid and that in itself was a demeaning reply. Also, the smart ass response to her tweet was way out of line.
Others also though the station was off base, including a former Reporter.
WPLG tried to make an excuse, saying the station was somehow allowed to report only exactly what police say happened — which is a wholly incorrect understanding of the basic tenets of journalism.
WPLG ended up deleting the tweets and apologized, changed the headline, and said the employee behind the tweets had been "disciplined."
They did not say what the discipline was?
The correction was also wrong. In the new headline, WPLG then called the suspect a "rapist," which is an error worthy of a libel lawsuit. Until proven guilty, the suspect is an "accused rapist," and WPLG eventually corrected its work fully.
