Australian Sports Reporter Mocked Player's Mental Health in Tweet - iMediaEthics

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Australian Sports Reporter Mocked Player’s Mental Health in Tweet

by  Sydney Smith June 06, 2017 05:00 AM EST

Tags: Apologies & Retractions, Australia, Social Media & Online Commenting, Standards

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A recent Herald Sun front page. (Credit: Herald Sun)

Australian rules football player Alex Fasolo publicly announced he suffers from depression and would miss a game for mental health reasons. Australian rules football “is a form of football with roots traceable from early forms of Rugby and Gaelic football,” played on cricket ovals with a ball similar to the American football.

After Fasolo showed up at a training for his team Collingwood Football, the Australian Herald Sun‘s Mark Robinson tweeted “good drugs – clinical depression on Tuesday, training Thursday.”

The tweet in question (Via TheWest.com.au)

Robinson, the paper’s chief football writer, quickly apologized for his tweet, which the Herald Sun‘s own story on the incident called “highly inappropriate.”

Robinson is quoted as saying, “I am deeply sorry to Alex and the Collingwood Football Club.  I acknowledge an error of judgement and I was wrong. I accept the tweet made light of mental health issues and I should not have published it.”

On Twitter, Robinson apologized for his “insensitive tweet” and “wrong choice of words.”

The Herald Sun‘s editor, Damon Johnston, apologized directly to Collingwood’s president and called the tweet “out of line, wrong” and unrepresentative of “the Herald Sun‘s view on how issues of mental health should be handled in the media,” according to the Herald Sun‘s story.

iMediaEthics has written to Collingwood Football Club to ask if it has heard directly from the Herald Sun or Robinson regarding the matter. We’ve also contacted the newspaper’s publisher News Corp Australia and tweeted Robinson for further comment.

https://twitter.com/ElectricBoosh/status/870232717010509824

https://twitter.com/khtcycling/status/870260762232541185

 

 

https://twitter.com/grinner62/status/870544940052250624

 

https://twitter.com/RexhatesFB/status/870990897659301892

 

CORRECTION - June 6, 2017 8:48 AM EST

The sport in question is Australian rules football, not soccer. We regret the error. Thanks to @ben_blowers for catching the error.

Tags: Apologies & Retractions, Australia, Social Media & Online Commenting, Standards

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Australian Sports Reporter Mocked Player’s Mental Health in Tweet

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