Twitter Attack Follows Reporter's Comment About High School Basketball Fans

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A New Hampshire school district superintendent has apologized after dozens of students deluged a sports reporter with vulgar and inappropriate tweets after he questioned their cheering skills at a high school basketball game, according to the Associated Press.

Roger Brown, of the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, was covering a playoff basketball game earlier this month when he tweeted that the Bedford High School student body would have to “raise its game” to match rival fans.

The newspaper said that sparked a torrent of tweets from Bedford students directed at Brown over several days, including some laced with profanity and a sexually explicit one directed at his mother. Things got worse when Brown highlighted the tweets, only to have some people attack him for singling out Bedford and criticizing high school students.

“We were shocked to see one of our reporters being harassed on social media,” Trent Spiner, the newspaper’s executive editor, said in a statement.

“Reporters are inherently tough. They can handle criticism,” he said. “But the personal, vulgar attacks against Roger were completely inappropriate. We appreciate the apology from the Bedford school district and hoe the student athletes take it to heart.”

Bedford Superintendent Chip McGee told the Union Leader Wednesday he’s “sorry that this happened, and it doesn’t represent the values of our community or our kids.”

McGee wouldn’t comment on whether any of the students responsible for the tweets were disciplined.

About the Author

Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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