As reporters we have a responsibility to be fair and unbiased in our reporting.
We also deserve to be respected by the athletes that we cover. Cam Newton’s comments towards Jourdan Rodrigue weren’t very respectful and they were sexist.
All media, men and women shouldn’t be belittled when they are trying to do their job. But as a member of the media, we have to remember we are also public figures, what we say on social media no matter when we said them can always be brought to light.
Racism doesn’t have a statute of limitations and frankly in my experience if you have made racist comments in the past, you likely still harbor some of those feelings.
I don’t know how Ms. Rodrigue feels now, but in the past she made comments that were very offensive. She apologized for those once they were exposed.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 5, 2017
I reached out to the Charlotte Observer who wrote several articles about Cam’s comment, but only tweeted out Rodrigue’s apology. I asked them would there be any additional comments condemning the tweets or any disciplinary actions.
Executive Sports Editor Mike Persinger was kind enough to reply to my email with the following comment.
That will be the only statement.
I cannot discuss personnel issues.
If there is any type of disciplined it looks like it will be handled internally, but I wouldn’t be shocked if nothing happened since racism is always downplayed. Ms. Rodrigue was at Panthers practice as usual today. You can flip the page for the racist tweets…