Reporter Makes Sickening Lie About Annapolis Shooter's Ties to Trump, Forced To Resign
A reporter at a Massachusetts-based newspaper resigned Friday after falsely claiming in a tweet Thursday that the man who killed five employees at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, left a “Make America Great Again” hat at the crime scene.
“Shooter who killed 4 people at Annapolis newspaper dropped his #MAGA hat on newsroom floor before opening fire,” Conor Berry, a reporter at The Republican in Springfield, Massachusetts, wrote in a now-deleted tweet.
Berry, who covered politics and crime for The Republican, apologized for the “stupid” and “regrettable” tweet Friday, adding that it made his 21-year career as a journalist come to a “screeching halt.”
https://twitter.com/CBerry413/status/1012723957131341824
Berry’s bio on Twitter now reads: “Former newspaper reporter.”
Berry took full responsibility for the tweet in a resignation notice posted Friday on The Republican’s website.
“I am ashamed of my tweet, which taints the good work of fair-minded journalists everywhere,” Berry said.
“We need to be more vigilant than ever to be fair and accurate in a climate in which we are scrutinized and criticized,” Wayne Phaneuf, the executive editor of the newspaper, said in a statement.
In a follow-up interview with the Boston Globe, Berry said his tweet was a “snarky, sarcastic, cynical remark.”
He also lamented that his tweet gave more fuel to critics of the news media who believe reporters try to push a partisan agenda.
A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
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