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Twitter suspends British journalist critical of NBC’s Olympics coverage
Social media site sparks wave of indignation for banning Independent journalist Guy Adams after complaint from NBC

Ed Pilkington in New York

guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 July 2012 16.00 EDT
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Some speculated that NBC had asked Twitter to remove Adams’s account after critical tweets. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Twitter has brought down a hail of critical tweeting on its own head by suspending the account of a British newspaper’s Los Angeles correspondent following his acerbic reporting of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics.

The social media network hummed with the indignation of thousands of its users after the Twitter feed of Guy Adams of the Independent disappeared. The paper’s deputy editor, Archie Bland, confirmed the suspension, calling it “heavy-handed”.

NBC said it had complained to Twitter after Adams published the email address of one of its senior bosses. “We filed a complaint with Twitter because a user tweeted the personal information of one of our executives. According to Twitter, this is a violation of their privacy policy. Twitter alone levies discipline.”

Rachael Horwitz, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based firm, confirmed that it does not “actively monitor” users’ accounts, and added that it was company policy not to comment on individual users.

NBC acted after Adams published a tweet that included the email address of Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics, encouraging people to complain to him about the TV network’s delayed broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Games.

Twitter’s terms and conditions state that users must not post private email addresses, unless they are already available on the internet. Adams said the email was not a private one but a corporate account, and that Zenkel’s address is identical in form to thousands of other NBC employees.

The offending tweet was not the only one critical of NBC. Some of Adams’s comments fall in the camp of caustic criticism:

“America’s left coast forced to watch Olympic ceremony on SIX HOUR time delay. Disgusting money-grabbing by @NBColympics”

And some arguably went further than that:

“I have 1000 channels on my TV. Not one will be showing the Olympics opening ceremony live. Because NBC are utter, utter bastards.”

In a piece published by the Independent the reporter said that NBC’s decision to delay transmission of the Games so that it could maximise its advertising revenue in primetime had sparked “ridicule from TV critics and outrage from the US public”.

He also pointed out the timing of the suspension, which came very soon after a sharply-critical piece by Adams on NBC’s coverage of the Olympics opening ceremony was published.

The headline on the piece said “all the talk is about #NBCfail”. Adams also referenced several gaffes and insensitive remarks by NBC commentators, including the memorable remark that they “haven’t heard” of Tim Berners-Lee, the British inventor of the world wide web.

Suspicions that Twitter had over-reached itself and strayed into censorship were heightened by the fact that the firm has entered into a deal with NBCUniversal in which Twitter becomes the official narrator of live events at the Olympics.

Among the sharply-worded tweets coming from Adams were:

“Am I alone in wondering why NBColympics think its acceptable to
pretend this road race is being broadcast live?”

and: “Matt Lauer: ‘Madagascar, a location indelibly associated with a couple of recent animated movies.’ #tosspot”

Twitter users rallied to the defence of Adams. This from the Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh was typical:

ZIMBABWE – A soldier stationed at Kabrit Barracks in Harare appeared in court last week facing charges of deliberately infecting his wife with HIV and forcing her to drink his urine.
Daniel Banda (31) of New Zengeza 4 denied the counts of deliberate transmission of HIV and assault when he appeared before Chitungwiza magistrate Ms Olivia Mariga. The magistrate remanded him in custody to August 8 for trial. Banda was asked to apply for bail at the High Court.
Prosecutor Mr Henry Muringani told the court that on July 21, at around 6pm, Banda came back home from a bar and started accusing his wife (20) of gossipping about him to her parents. The court heard that he allegedly slapped her in the face twice before asking her where his knife was.
It is alleged that Banda asked his wife to choose between drinking his urine or being stabbed. Banda allegedly urinated in a container and handed it to his wife to drink after she opted to take the liquid.
After that, Banda alleged that his wife was possessed by demons and she needed deliverance using spiritual waters. He went on to give her water he fetched from the toilet chamber and forced her to drink it.
Thereafter, Banda, who was earlier tested HIV positive, received counselling together with his wife and were advised to have protected sex. But the court heard that Banda went on to defy the order by forcing his wife to be intimate with him without protection.
After the sinister act the wife filed a police report, leading to Banda’s arrest.
The Herald