A black reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was barred by the newspaper from covering the George Floyd protests after questions about her objectivity arose.
According to the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, Alexis Johnson was sidelined after she tweeted photos on Sunday of a mess made outside a Kenny Chesney concert and jokingly called the pictures “horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who don’t care about this city!!!!!”
A letter sent to members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which was obtained by the Pittsburgh City Paper, said executives at the paper told her the tweet showed “bias.”
“It came to the attention of the powers that be, who on Monday confronted her in a conference call, told her she showed bias and as such, could no longer cover anything related to the protests of the police murder of George Floyd and the systemic racism that for too long has been a dirty segment of our national fabric,” the letter read in part.
Horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who don’t care about this city!!!!!
…. oh wait sorry. No, these are pictures from a Kenny Chesney concert tailgate. Whoops. pic.twitter.com/lKRNrBsltU
— Alexis Johnson (@alexisjreports) May 31, 2020
The news guild was not pleased.
“What she did was not confrontational,” said NGP President Mike Fuoco, according to WESA, the local NPR chapter. “Anybody with a heart of kindness would look upon that and would smile and think about [the message of the tweet]. To take Alexis Johnson off coverage of a movement in expression of grief, pain, a story that she knows by virtue of being a black woman, is beyond absurd.”
“It’s very heavy-handed what they did. It wasn’t thought through — and to do that to a black reporter, it’s a contractual and racial issue,” he added. “It doesn’t reflect well on management. We’re not done with this.”
Protests have taken place across the country after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody last week. The demonstrations, some of which have turned violent, seek to highlight institutional racism and police brutality.
