The New York Times admitted on Thursday that a staff writer's F-word attack on former Governor Jeb Bush was out of step with their standards. Politco's Hadas Gold and Marc Caputo quoted an unnamed spokesperson for the liberal newspaper who labeled the now-deleted Twitter post from Philip B. Richardson "completely inappropriate," and stated that "the staffer is being dealt with."
Gold and Caputo reported on the controversy surrounding Richardson, a "freelance writer, producer and news assistant" for the Times, in a Thursday afternoon item. They noted that "Bush's spokesman, Tim Miller, quickly took to Twitter to highlight Richardson's message and his employer: 'NY Times reporter drops an FU Jeb.'"
The two Politico correspondents continued with the statement from the anonymous public relations official for the liberal newspaper:
A Times spokesperson called the tweet inappropriate and said that the staffer is being dealt with. Richardson does not report on politics, the spokesperson said, and is a news assistant assigned to the photo desk.
"This tweet was completely inappropriate. Philip Richardson is a news assistant on The Times's clerical staff, assigned to the photo desk. He is not a reporter or editor and is not involved in political coverage. Nevertheless, tweets like this are inappropriate for any Times newsroom staffer, and managers will take the necessary steps to deal with the situation," the spokesperson said.
Erik Wemple of the Washington Post also covered the story in a Thursday article, and cited a social media guideline by Times associate managing editor Philip B. Corbett: "[Y]ou are a Times journalist, and your online behavior should be appropriate for a Times journalist. Readers will inevitably associate anything you post on social media with The Times." Wemple also inquired "whether any disciplinary measures had yet been taken. No response yet from the New York Times."
The Post correspondent later contended that Richardson's Twitter post "will dog Richardson's colleagues for many years to come. Whenever Republican politicians — like, for example, Jeb Bush! — find themselves on the business end of a New York Times story, it won't matter how perfectly reported the piece may be: Richardson's tweet will serve as a handy implement for anyone wishing to discredit the paper for lefty bias." One only needs to look at the MRC's New York Times archives to know that the newspaper has a long history of "lefty bias."
