Next time someone tells you to be careful what you post on social media because future employers could see and be upset, remember the story of Liam Kennedy.
Now, it just so happens that Kennedy was a longtime fan of Newcastle, Sunderland’s archrival, a fact that in itself angered many Sunderland supporters. Some fans on a message board launched an investigation into just how deep Kennedy’s Newcastle allegiances went and stumbled across some of his old Facebook posts…
Oops.
Kennedy quickly issued an apology on The Echo’s website, saying he was “ashamed” and that, “it embarrasses me to see my name against such abhorrent language online.”
The latest
Not to make light of the situation, but they were seen as jokes among friends. The subject matter may have been derogatory, but it was not ever directed towards anyone in particular.
I was young, daft and trying to be clever. It turns out, putting things like that online was not so clever at all.
You’ve got to feel a little bad for Kennedy, given that his vulgar anti-Sunderland feelings were six years old, posted before it was his job to be objective. Anyone young enough to have had Facebook in high school likely have some posts out there that they’re not overly proud of.
But at the end of the day, the appearance of objectivity is as important as actual objectivity. If Kennedy were to cover Sunderland, fans would see any negative article as a personal screed against a team he has hated since childhood. So The Echo decided to pull Kennedy off the Sunderland A.F.C. beat.
The Echo has a dedicated team of staff writing, gathering and overseeing sport content – Liam is one of these journalists.
For a number of reasons, the decision has now been made that Liam will no longer be covering SAFC.
It seems inevitable that we’ll one day see a high-profile political candidate’s hopes torpedoed by something he or she posted on social media as a teenager. For now, let poor Liam Kennedy be a cautionary tale:
Go delete your old Facebook posts, right now.