Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Guy Adams Censored

I'm disgusted by NBC.

That's normal.

I'm very disappointed in Twitter.

Why would Twitter, at the request of NBC, suspend the account of journalist Guy Adams?

From The Independent:

The US television broadcaster NBC was at the centre of controversy last night after it persuaded Twitter to suspend an Independent journalist who criticised its coverage of the Olympics.

Guy Adams, this newspaper's Los Angeles correspondent, was removed from the social networking site on the day that he wrote a news story detailing widespread public complaints about the network's coverage of the London Games.

According to Twitter, he was suspended for a message posted during the Opening Ceremony, when NBC prevented viewers of America from watching live coverage, so that the network could screen the occasion during an evening prime-time slot coveted by advertisers. "The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven't started yet is Gary Zenkel," wrote Mr Adams. "Tell him what * think!" His tweet then contained the work email address of Mr Zenkel, the President of NBC Olympics.

Twitter claimed last night that the tweet breached its guidelines.

"Your account has been suspended for posting an individual's private information such as private email address, physical address, telephone number, or financial documents," the company informed Mr Adams. "It is a violation of the Twitter Rules."

In response, Mr Adams wrote: "I didn't publish a private email address, just a corporate one, which is widely available to anyone with access to Google and is identical to one that all of the tens of thousands of NBC Universal employees share. It's no more 'private' than the address I'm emailing you from right now.

NBC has received a load of criticism for its coverage of the Olympics.

But why target Adams?

"Violation of Twitter Rules"?

Give me a break!

This is censorship.

While I blame Twitter for capitulating, it's NBC that's the real bad guy in this.

How could NBC think silencing Adams on Twitter would help manage the criticism?

Another bad, bad decision.

No comments: