A few years ago, if people
performed well at their jobs and had good résumés, they would realistically be
allowed to keep their careers. However, social media has become more dominant
in our culture than ever with the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Because of this, people online can dig up offensive posts from the past. For
example, James Gunn who directs Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
trilogy, had his past offensive tweets uncovered and was fired at one point
from finishing his story in the third film. Reading Howard Kurtz's article on
Fox News illustrated another side to this problem: not necessarily using old
tweets to decide whether or not someone is fit for a job, but instead using it
towards writers and journalists who are always tackling these uncomfortable
issues.
Politically speaking, Trump
supporters have been using these sorts of tweets to call out the reporters who
might be criticizing Trump. One editor, Tom Wright-Piersanti, was called out
for blatantly anti-semitic tweets, but the article pointed out that he had
apologized a decade ago yet he was still being thrown under the bus for it.
These Republicans are bringing attention to past tweets which were put out by the
journalist for public consumption, yet these are the same standards the
president is held to. The New York Times explained in response that it is
acceptable for people to look for this sort of information to see whether a
President is fit for his position but it is not acceptable for people to do
this as any sort of retribution for previous criticism. Overall, the problem
with these Republicans is that they are harassing these reporters who are
handling uncomfortable truths about our government and thus, are stifling the
freedom of the press. This article also is a good illustration that the media
has the ability to remove people from their jobs, so it is important to monitor
what type of content gets uploaded.
Article link:https://www.foxnews.com/media/paper-says-past-tweets-should-be-used-against-politicos-but-not-journalists
