Local News anchor fired for Facebook Comments

[6andcounting]

(04-01-2016, 11:10 AM)Benton Wrote: Her statement wasn't racist, but as a news person, she can't say that.

A friend of mine is a judge. We were talking one time and he chided me a bit for my coverage of a murder trial. Basically, he was going to have to move it to another county because my stories had tainted the jury pool. When the jurors were asked by one (or both for all I know) of the attorneys if they knew anything about the murder, almost all of them said they knew what they'd read in the paper.

This anchor said the killers are young black men with multiple fathers. Whether they are or not, it already alters public perception. Everyone who follows her social media and everyone they talk to are potentially skewed toward having that mental picture. 

Tainting the jury pool is a problem, but I don't think people should be censored from speaking free and publicly for that reason. Other than that, I agree, and it's why I can't say WTAE is wrong. She was an anchor; not an opinion writer or commentator. I would be more defensive toward not firing her if she was a conservative talk show commentator (local or national, doesn't matter) who posted these comments.