Cam Newton thinks female reporter talking routes is 'funny'

That article left me feeling ... problematic.

I thought she should get probably get dinged. Week suspension, awkward meeting, etc. But this basically says, what you do at 20 speaks in a real way to what you are five years later. Maybe we should hold 20-year-olds to a higher standard. I dunno. But if we're holding 20-year-olds to a certain standard, how soon until that leaks beyond just a journalist? (Apologies if this goes too political) We've seen a lot of spots where a person of color's indiscretions as a minor, or at age 19-22 are held against them in a big way ("that kid was a criminal, so got what's coming"). Would the author say at 25, Cam should be harshly punished for stealing a laptop, probably worth at least $1,000? I doubt it.

I know this reads like whataboutism, but I guess I think dumb kids tend to be dumb. I know I was. And if something I once did was discovered, I'd explain 25-year-old me isn't 20-year-old me. Lots of maturing in that stretch. There's of course arguments about whether laughing at your dad being un-PC is highly bad, what role her privilege plays in this, et. al., but the standard, you were a dipshit at 20, you are highly disqualified for things, seems bad.

 

Yes but ... the outrage at Cam, the indignation.

 

@Double Down 's comment about how young people see their social media explains it best. Really, she didn't think even once about cleaning it up?

 

Part of what's hard is we can only really bring that aspect of this up here, in relative anonymity of this message board, because if you say "This is a good example of why you should clean up your social media accounts when holding a professional job" the immediate backlash is "Maybe it's a good example that you shouldn't make racist comments in the first place!!!!!"

Again, I think she did a stupid thing, but I don't think she's a racist. I also feel like punishing people for shit that happened a long time ago is a completely arbitrary way to judge your employees. Cam continues to be such a lightning rod for so many people. The people who dislike him LOVED using this as a springboard to get some new licks in. The people who will defend him to the end of the earth now want to see a reporter fired for a mistake made when she was 20, the same age Newton was when he was stealing laptops, writing his name on them, and throwing them out the window when the police arrived.

Maybe everyone should chill out. The next thing to be outraged about will be along shortly.

 

Yeah, the journalistic go-to is to be tight-lipped and ride it out. But the public wants introspection and remorse. Best to thoughtfully provide that in this case.

And I've no doubt she's received death threats. Not credible ones, but death threats nonetheless, maybe ones with her address or something. Folks are fucking crazy. I've basically been called a slew of names for not mentioning a fourth-place finisher at state wrestling. I was told to "watch my back" in person for rehashing a coaches ugly exit from a job. That was dealing with towns of probably fewer than 3,000 people. At the middle of a national story that intersects with racism and sexism in a charged time, no way she's 100 percent threat free. (We live in a time where folks have been SWATed over video games)

 

I'd assume many folks don't think, "hmmm" did I say something stupid online three years ago? We're talking three tweets in 30,000, none of which would have been taken as anything deathly serious but for the current firestorm. Not that it would've been bad to hunt those down, but I've never thought, "Should I search my tweets and the word racist or some slurs, just in case?"

It's not like I remembered something off-color I said last week, and if someone doesn't think they said something off color, they don't think to go back to it.

(I say this as someone with some not great internet baggage that will probably never disappear, stupid police scanner story. Strangely no one has ever asked about it, though maybe I really was talented enough for all those bigger jobs and its been dragging me down. In either case, if my dumb choices before I could legally drink really upset folks, I don't know what to tell them)

 

I get that. I know there's stuff during my college years -- stories I wrote and of course things I said -- that I'm sure glad they died in college. I've said it over and over on here, every week there's something in the news that makes me grateful I went to college before the Internet.

However ... she went to a fairly strong and well-developed J-program. She worked in the biz -- as an actual pro -- or pseudo-pro, whatever you'd call it, but in any case writing for an audience larger than college kids. Is there no awareness of this? I guess this thread has given me the answer.

Definitely something for professors and newspaper advisors to tell their soon-to-be graduates: Clean it up. Now. If I were in that position, I'd advise people to start a new profile before they graduate and ditch the college one, or put it on the most private settings if you really want to hold on to it.

 

Agree here 100 percent. I don't think anyone should be retroactively punished for three tweets they made when they were 20. I think Elliotte nailed it when he wrote that a thoughtful column explaining and apologizing could've gone a long way.

That said, I don't think taking her off the beat is the wrong move, either. If she really is receiving threats, take whatever precautions necessary to ensure her safety. And if her editors believe this distraction will prevent her from doing her job to their expectations, and/or if they believe she's lost credibility, or the paper could, then you do what you have to.

I'm not sure she should be punished, but the circumstances she helped create dictate some action from her publication.

 

I think what most people need to understand about outrage is that it fades so quickly in the grand scheme of things. No one will get super worked up about this if she returns to the beat in Week 8. She's the back-up Panthers person. This is one of the biggest kerfuffles I can ever remember for a back-up NFL writer. If players actively refuse to talk to her, that's one thing. I suspect many of them can't be bothered to care all that much, seeing as they're playing for their jobs and future on a week-to-week basis. Will she have a bad relationship with Cam? Possible! That happens. I believe Aaron Rodgers wouldn't speak to the Journal-Sentinel for an entire year because of an Oliva Munn crack someone made. Good beat writers get around it, until the relationship improves, or the player is no longer a part of the organization.

 

You don't take a reporter off a beat for threats or soon you won't have any reporters on any beats.

 

I've covered preps, college and pro beats and never received death threats. Try again.

The point I was making earlier is that whether there is a legitimate threat or not, it's a difficult circumstance to ask someone to work in.