As everyone knows, basketball legend Kobe Bryant and several others, including one of his daughters, died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Without further comment, here’s a number of Tweets that have discussed the flow of news about this tragedy. Retweeting here on the blog is not an endorsement or condemnation of anything. It’s just showing some examples of how this unfolded on social media.
I may update with new tweets as appropriate.
(Updated 1/28/20)
BREAKING: Kobe Bryant Has Died In A Helicopter Crash https://t.co/42oINV9ZUU
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 26, 2020
BREAKING: Retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant has died in helicopter crash in Southern California.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 26, 2020
Kobe Bryant is feared dead in a helicopter crash in California. Reports say the former LA Lakers star and 5-time NBA champion was among the passengers in a helicopter that crashed in Calabasas.
This a developing story. Follow live updates: https://t.co/ScI6Se5M6G
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 26, 2020
We apologise unreservedly for the tweeted story about Kobe Bryant losing his third place in the NBA all-time scoring list.
It had been scheduled earlier in the day before we knew of the sad death of Kobe Bryant. The tweet should not have gone out – and has now been deleted
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) January 26, 2020
Washington Post reporter @feliciasonmez deleted her crass tweets about Kobe Bryant. But screen grabs are forever – and I took some before she deleted the tweets.
Bye, Felicia. pic.twitter.com/IvNZHkiBam
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) January 26, 2020
Media coverage of Kobe Bryant’s death was a chaotic mess, but there were moments of grace. My column https://t.co/vOXpKzHjX6
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) January 27, 2020
Had a good discussion with my #MMJ4332 Sports Journalism students about the tricky question of when, and how, to include Kobe Bryant's accused sexual assault when covering his death as a reporter/obituary writer.
No concrete answers, but it was a positive discussion.
— ⒹⓇ. ⒿⒺⒻⒻ ⓇⒾⓁⒺⓎ (@DrRiley_Writes) January 27, 2020
The Post’s misguided suspension of Felicia Sonmez over Kobe Bryant tweets https://t.co/0hoMaEAWaR
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 27, 2020
I saw! She's a journalist. She tweeted out an article with facts on a situation that was included in every major obit. We can either have politicians for journalists or journalists for journalists. I want folks in media who speak hard truths, even when I don't like it. https://t.co/QNE3vYmWaf
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) January 27, 2020
UPDATE: "Felicia, A real lack of judgment to tweet this. Please stop. You’re hurting this institution by doing this." – Marty Baron, executive editor @ Washington Post, to a suspended reporter. But her colleagues have been rallying to her defense. https://t.co/f3ZHs5N8qt
— Rachel C. Abrams (@RachelAbramsNY) January 27, 2020
Sonmez also got an email from Marty Baron, the Post’s exec editor, on Sunday evening. “Felicia,” Baron wrote, according to an email obtained by the NYT. “A real lack of judgment to tweet this. Please stop. You’re hurting this institution by doing this.”https://t.co/RQ3zhtIkDv
— Kainaz Amaria (@kainazamaria) January 28, 2020