Reuters Writer Blames Trump for Capital Shooting: 'Save Your Thoughts and Prayers for Your Empty Soul'
A Reuters editor issued a retraction and lengthy apology for “jumping to conclusions” in the aftermath of Thursday’s mass shooting at a Maryland newspaper office.
Though police have since said they believe the suspected gunman appeared to specifically target the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, the social media speculation began long before details were available.
For Reuters Breakingviews Editor Rob Cox, the tragedy led him to recall President Donald Trump’s frequently combative rhetoric aimed at the news media, as Red State reported.
In a tweet he soon deleted and denounced, he wrote that the shooting is “what happens when @realDonaldTrump calls journalists the enemy of the people.”
Cox went on to write that the president has blood on his hands.
“Save your thoughts and prayers for your empty soul,” he wrote.
The editor was almost immediately inundated with backlash, which he described as “fair enough” in a subsequent tweet before further explaining his remarks.
“Vilifying any category of people – journalists, migrants, conservatives, liberals etc – can incite violence,” he wrote. “This one hits close to home. Genuinely saddened.”
Hours later, Cox posted a four-part apology offering additional context and some reflective thoughts after considering the impact of his controversial comments.
When I saw the news today that a mass shooter had targeted the employees of a newspaper in Maryland I responded emotionally and inappropriately.
— Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018
2- Though my comments were entirely personal, they were not in keeping with the Reuters Trust Principles and my own standards for letting facts, not snap judgments, guide my understanding.
— Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018
3 – My experience as a member of the community of Newtown, Connecticut in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, combined with the possibility that my colleagues in the press were being targeted, pushed me into a state of emotional distress.
— Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018
4 – I am sorry for my comments, which I quickly deleted and have disavowed, and especially remorseful if they did anything to distract from the thoughts and love we must send to the community of Annapolis.
— Rob Cox (@rob1cox) June 29, 2018
“When I saw the news today that a mass shooter had targeted the employees of a newspaper in Maryland I responded emotionally and inappropriately,” Cox wrote.
Describing his initial reaction as “entirely personal,” he acknowledged that it did not comply with “the Reuters Trust Principles and (his) own standards for letting facts, not snap judgments, guide (his) understanding.”
Cox cited his own experience as a community member impacted by a mass shooting as a possible influence in his visceral remarks.
“My experience as a member of the community of Newtown, Connecticut in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy, combined with the possibility that my colleagues in the press were being targeted, pushed me into a state of emotional distress,” he wrote.
He concluded with an apology for the initial tweet, which he said he “quickly deleted and … disavowed,” adding that he was “especially remorseful” if his comments “did anything to distract from the thoughts and love we must send to the community of Annapolis.”
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