Saturday, January 28, 2012

Browns beat writer reassigned after insulting team owner on Twitter

Cleveland Plain Dealer sports writer Tony Grossi was removed from his job as Browns beat writer after he posted an insulting tweet about team owner Randy Lerner.

Last week, Grossi sent out the following message regarding Lerner:�"He's a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world."

He later deleted the tweet and apologized about it, blaming every social networker's avenged foe, inadvertence. "It was inappropriate and not meant to be tweeted," he said, according to Pro Football Talk, "but it was inappropriate nonetheless."

Cleveland Scene reported Wednesday that multiple sources confirmed Grossi's apology wasn't enough to save his job as Browns beat writer.

I sympathize with Grossi. Even if his excuse sounds a little too "dog ate my homework," it's not like the insult was so egregious that it merited removal from the beat. Pathetic and irrelevant are two of the kinder things I've read about Randy Lerner in the past few years.

[Related video: Cavs owner's bizarre T.P. tweet]

So what if Grossi isn't fond of Lerner. Disliking Dan Snyder is practically a requirement for Washington, D.C., journalists. And it's not like beat writers or reporters are without bias. It's merely their job to present information without any. Grossi's work was deemed to be fair enough to keep his job prior to his tweet. Are we supposed to believe that he's now incapable of doing the same work because he made his private beliefs public?

No, and I don't think the Cleveland Plain Dealer believes that either. Grossi was reassigned because these things are all about appearances.

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