Journalist slams NBC after Twitter ban

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 31 July 2012

British journalist Guy Adams criticised NBC after his Twitter account was suspended following tweets attacking the network’s delayed Olympic coverage. He said he posted a corporate email address and denied breaking Twitter rules, while NBC said it complained over personal information.

Summary

LONDON: A British journalist slammed the US television network NBC on Monday after his Twitter account was suspended following scathing attacks on the broadcaster's delayed Olympic coverage. The Independent's Los Angeles correspondent Guy Adams said his account was suspended as a punishment for publishing the corporate email address of Gary Zenkel, an NBC executive in charge of Olympic coverage.

Adams on Friday tweeted his outrage over NBC's decision to delay broadcasting the opening ceremony in order to catch the primetime audience. Speaking later on Los Angeles talk radio station KNX 1070, the journalist said he was "utterly outraged" by the coverage, and accused the broadcaster of "treating the people of America with contempt".

Adams also said Twitter had bowed to pressure from the broadcaster, claiming he had not contravened their rules. "I'm of course happy to abide by Twitter's rules, now and forever," he said in an email to Twitter. "But I don't see how I broke them in this case: I didn't publish a private email address. Just a corporate one.

"[It's] quite worrying that NBC, whose parent company are an Olympic sponsor, are apparently trying (and, in this case, succeeding) in shutting down the Twitter accounts of journalists who are critical of their Olympic coverage," he added. NBC Sports later released a statement saying: "We filed a complaint with Twitter because a user tweeted the personal information of one of our executives," the Independent said. - AFP

KEY POINTS:

• Guy Adams said Twitter suspended his account after he tweeted about NBC’s delayed Olympic broadcasts.
• He said he posted the corporate email address of NBC executive Gary Zenkel, not private information.
• Adams accused NBC of pressuring Twitter and criticised the network’s Olympic coverage decisions.
• NBC Sports said it filed a complaint because an executive’s personal information was tweeted.