ONTD

1:12 pm - 02/19/2012

ESPN fires writer of offensive headline about Jeremy Lin

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(CNN) -- ESPN has fired the employee responsible for writing an offensive headline about basketball sensation Jeremy Lin and suspended an anchor who used the same ethnic slur, the sports network said Sunday.
The headline read "Chink in the Armor," referencing the New York Knicks' 89- 85 loss Friday night to the New Orleans Hornets that ended the team's season-high winning streak.
The phrase has two meanings; one is an ethnic slur.
Lin came off the bench to guide the Knicks to win after improbable win. The unlikely star of Taiwanese descent quickly turned into a global brand and "Linsanity" became the phrase of the times.
The ESPN headline Saturday morning was up for 35 minutes before being removed. But the damage was done.
The network apologized Saturday and said it was "engaged in a thorough review."
It also apologized for a question ESPN anchor Max Bretos asked Wednesday night: "If there is a chink in the armor, where can Lin improve his game?"
The network said Sunday that a third reference was made on ESPN Radio New York on Friday.
"The incidents were separate and different," ESPN said in a statement Sunday. "We have engaged in a thorough review of all three."
ESPN said the writer of the headline that appeared on the network's mobile website has been dismissed. Bretos has been suspended for 30 days.
The radio commentator was not an ESPN employee.
"We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin," ESPN said. "His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN.
"Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future," ESPN said.

CNN
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_otravez 19th-Feb-2012 06:18 pm (UTC)
Oh here go hell come.
xsnickerzzx 19th-Feb-2012 06:30 pm (UTC)
racist
kydeon 19th-Feb-2012 06:18 pm (UTC)
Wouldn't it need to get through a whole chain of people to be approved?
falsie 19th-Feb-2012 06:19 pm (UTC)
that's what im thinking. like srsly didnt this have to go through a bunch of ~levels~ to get approved for publishing
dives 19th-Feb-2012 06:20 pm (UTC)
not necessarily, I'd assume a copyeditor and maybe the sports editor would see it. I don't think the general editor would, for instance.
sking20854 19th-Feb-2012 06:31 pm (UTC)
Yep.
milly 19th-Feb-2012 07:10 pm (UTC)
Headlines don't go through a chain of approval at all, maybe other copy editors will look at them, or they'll have to submit them for approval if *they* think it's kind of touchy, but that's by their own judgement and whoever came up with the headline clearly had a huge lack of it. Chances are if it's going to online and the writer posted it himself, he was the first and last person involved in it and might not have had an editor look the story over. Editors generally come up with headlines though, so I was surprised it was a writer and not an editor that got fired.
ditiswritten 19th-Feb-2012 06:31 pm (UTC)
obviously not the same as espn, but at my college paper the copy editors usually wrote the headlines and then the article would go up online/be shipped to the printer. so maybe not?
my_cat_is_grey 19th-Feb-2012 06:33 pm (UTC)
Didn't they say nobody caught it because it was posted at like, 2:30 in the morning, so they don't have a lot of staff? Not that that makes it okay, but maybe that made it easier for it to get published.
bluesforgotten 19th-Feb-2012 06:33 pm (UTC)
The article would have but the headlines are slapped on at the last second to fit on the website. I mean, the guy was probably sitting there with someone else but it wouldn't go through that much, especially since it was a late-night article.
sbennettwealer 19th-Feb-2012 06:50 pm (UTC)
It's been a long time since I was a journalist and times have changed a lot - now that things are getting put out on the web so quickly I'm not sure they have quite as many channels in the editorial chain. Depending on the level of the writer and the deadline, it's conceivable that nobody had to approve it before it went live.
fauxparadiso 19th-Feb-2012 06:55 pm (UTC)
MTE. This person should have had an editor.
milly 19th-Feb-2012 07:04 pm (UTC)
No, they don't approve every title, that would be ridiculous, that's what copy editors and writers are paid for and if they fuck up it's on them.

Furthermore, any employee with access to the website and sending stories online can submit their own stuff/the articles submitted to them for editing and even a disgruntled employee could post shit, it's happened.

Edited at 2012-02-19 07:06 pm (UTC)
watch_mex0x0 19th-Feb-2012 07:22 pm (UTC)
this was on the internet thought. the chain is much shorter and people have wayyy more free reign
marywebgirl 19th-Feb-2012 09:14 pm (UTC)
No, I used to work for the web site of a fairly large daily newspaper and *maybe* one other editor would see a story and headline before it went up. And that was during the day. Night/weekend editors usually wouldn't have anything vetted before it went up.

Edited at 2012-02-19 09:15 pm (UTC)
lovely_tunes 19th-Feb-2012 06:19 pm (UTC)
they better!
sunglass 19th-Feb-2012 06:19 pm (UTC)
Good.
devetu 19th-Feb-2012 06:20 pm (UTC)
mess

m
e
s
s
rpsuc 19th-Feb-2012 06:22 pm (UTC)
mte
_xxtom 20th-Feb-2012 12:07 am (UTC)
MTE
i_am_sydbristow 19th-Feb-2012 06:21 pm (UTC)
well done.
winniechili 19th-Feb-2012 06:22 pm (UTC)
Did they also fire the person who approved that headline? Or do copyeditors just get free reign like that to publish whatever?
sbennettwealer 19th-Feb-2012 06:51 pm (UTC)
These days I'm not sure stuff going online gets much prior approval.
milly 19th-Feb-2012 08:52 pm (UTC)
They pretty much do have free reign, tbh - other copy editors will look over the pages someone edited when it's a print, but they're on a deadline, and *maybe* the main editor will look at them, but often it's the copy editor's best judgement and these days there might not be more than one copy editor, with a chain of command that doesn't have time to approve stuff - especially for online stuff, since the editors or the writers post the stuff themselves, so they can tack on whichever headline they want, approved or not. It's kind of ridiculous how much anyone could post whatever they want, even a disgruntled employee could cause shit easily.

Edited at 2012-02-19 08:54 pm (UTC)
sweet_honesty 19th-Feb-2012 09:23 pm (UTC)
It's online, not print. So chances are that articles just get posted without approval.
rubie_dubidoux 19th-Feb-2012 06:22 pm (UTC)
can we just have a tmi/sex post already I am dying here I need some sage ONTD wisdom & comfort rn
saintmorse 19th-Feb-2012 06:24 pm (UTC)
Tell me more, fluffy laptop cat.
rubie_dubidoux 19th-Feb-2012 06:31 pm (UTC)
so long story short I've been hooking up with this guy in one base increments... last night was third, Tuesday was second, three weeks before that was first, and before that we just hung out once after we met. Last night he was drunk and reeeeally wanted to have sex with me but both of our roommates were in our rooms so I told him I didn't really want to have sex, but we could meet, so we met up outside and he fingered me in a baseball dugout and it really hurt and I felt uncomfortable because I was sober as fuck and he just straight up asked me if I was a virgin. I reluctantly told him I was and he said he wouldn't have sex with me

like I think he thinks I want a relationship but I don't, but I don't even know if it's worth chasing after him to tell him I just want to lose my goddamn virginity already
devetu 19th-Feb-2012 06:28 pm (UTC)
you missed like two yesterday
hjalmartazar 19th-Feb-2012 06:38 pm (UTC)
im just loling at your icon + that comment
acornthimble 19th-Feb-2012 06:25 pm (UTC)
props to ESPN for taking it seriously.
saintmorse 19th-Feb-2012 06:25 pm (UTC)
I wish the anchor had been fired too, but I suppose this is better than nothing.
nene718 19th-Feb-2012 06:26 pm (UTC)
bye, bitch.

also, is anyone watching the game? discussion post y/y?

Edited at 2012-02-19 06:29 pm (UTC)
for_serious13 19th-Feb-2012 07:47 pm (UTC)
I'm watching!
tx5mym5 19th-Feb-2012 10:12 pm (UTC)
Of course I watched. It was a great game.
invisible_cunt 19th-Feb-2012 06:26 pm (UTC)
good
that was way beyond a freudian slip
shavashava 19th-Feb-2012 07:25 pm (UTC)
ikr?
It was a fucking pun so they clearly intended the racial slur.
What a bunch of idiots.
sandstorm 19th-Feb-2012 06:27 pm (UTC)
They moved pretty swiftly. Good for them.
rewritten_since 19th-Feb-2012 06:47 pm (UTC)
ikr! i'm a bit surprised, tbh. usually these apologies are just along the lines of something like, "i'm sorry that you're offended."
lost_vegetation 19th-Feb-2012 07:18 pm (UTC)
lol what is your icon omg
urizanegao 20th-Feb-2012 12:52 am (UTC)
Seriously. I'm rather impressed. I was totally expecting some sort of "I'm sorry you're butthurt the world is too PC these days everybody get a sense of humour that's just like ours lulz" response, but good on them for being actually responsible.
quote_me_once 19th-Feb-2012 06:28 pm (UTC)
how long has this kid jeremy lin been around? i've been hearing so much about him in the last three days.
plugmebaby 19th-Feb-2012 11:20 pm (UTC)
i think ~3 weeks
xsnickerzzx 19th-Feb-2012 06:29 pm (UTC)
what's the other meaning of "chink?"
trop_fort 19th-Feb-2012 06:31 pm (UTC)
A narrow opening or crack.
voyevoda 19th-Feb-2012 06:32 pm (UTC)
Small narrow opening, small but fatal weakness, etc.
xsnickerzzx 19th-Feb-2012 06:33 pm (UTC)
ahh ok. yeah, i don't know how they missed the racial slur part.
sking20854 19th-Feb-2012 06:35 pm (UTC)
In non-racial terms it means a crack or fissure. Hence "chink in the armor."
ditiswritten 19th-Feb-2012 06:35 pm (UTC)
"chink in the armor" is an idiom meaning "a vulnerable area in one's armor that the opponent will usually aim for."
aprilbegins 19th-Feb-2012 08:17 pm (UTC)
I honestly didn't even notice the problem when I first the headline because that phrase is so commonplace. The stories about cashiers putting slurs on receipts instead of names that came out in the last year were without a doubt intentionally racist but with this one I honestly wonder if the writer made an unintentional error but ESPN had no choice but to fire him after the outrage.
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