Washington Post Executive Warns Staff About Social Media Use After Reporter's Kobe Tweets

In an email sent to The Washington Posts staff on Thursday, the newspapers executive editor, Martin Baron, said social media has made news coverage complicated and warned that employees activity on those platforms reflects the Posts reputation.

It is not always easy to know where to draw the line, Baron wrote in the email, obtained by CNN . Thats a matter deserving of thoughtful discussion along with how The Post should respond when the line is crossed.

It is unclear when Barons email was sent to the staff, but it was apparently prompted by the controversy over the newspapers decision to suspend national political reporter Felicia Sonmez after she tweeted a link to a 2016 Daily Beast article about rape allegations made in 2003 against NBA legend Kobe Bryant on Sunday, the day of his death .

News: Marty Baron just sent this email about social media use to The Washington Post newsroom.

\"It is not always easy to know where to draw the line.\" pic.twitter.com/OEuKzZMw88

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News: Marty Baron just sent this email about social media use to The Washington Post newsroom.

"It is not always easy to know where to draw the line." pic.twitter.com/OEuKzZMw88
Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) January 30, 2020

The email also addressed the safety risks posed to staff who use social media and the companys efforts to increase security.

After tweeting about Bryants rape allegations, Sonmez said on Twitter that 10,000 people had sent her abuse and death threats.

Please take a moment and read the story which was written 3+ years ago, and not by me, she tweeted. Any public figure is worth remembering in their totality, even if that public figure is beloved and that totality is unsettling.

Sonmez was placed on administrative leave Monday, though it was reportedly lifted on Tuesday after the papers management said the journalists tweets were ill-timed but not in clear and direct violation of our social media policy.

We do not want social media activity to be a distraction, and we do not want it to give a false impression of the tenor of our coverage, Baron also said.

Tracy Grant, the Posts managing editor, initially told Sonmez to take her tweets about Bryant down and Baron told her in an email to stop, The New York Times reported .

Felicia, Baron wrote to her, according to the Times. A real lack of judgment to tweet this. Please stop. Youre hurting this institution by doing this.

The tweets were taken down, though Twitter users took screenshots of them.

Washington Post reporter @feliciasonmez deleted her crass tweets about Kobe Bryant. But screen grabs are forever and I took some before she deleted the tweets.

Bye, Felicia. pic.twitter.com/IvNZHkiBam

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Washington Post reporter @feliciasonmez deleted her crass tweets about Kobe Bryant. But screen grabs are forever and I took some before she deleted the tweets.

Bye, Felicia. pic.twitter.com/IvNZHkiBam
Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) January 26, 2020

The executive editors email to the staff did not include an apology or express regret for Sonmezs suspension.

Baron said that the paper was in the process of revamping its social media policies, which were created in 2011.

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