June 3, 2016

Emmett Rensin, the deputy editor of Vox’s first person section, has been suspended by the explainer site after tweeting that people should “start a riot” if their towns are visited by presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

https://twitter.com/emmettrensin/status/738583628855156742

The tweet clashed with a policy at Vox that prevents staffers from “encouraging dangerous, illegal activity,” according to a statement from Vox founder Ezra Klein:

We at Vox do not take institutional positions on most questions, and we encourage our writers to debate and disagree. But direct encouragement of riots crosses a line between expressing a contrary opinion and directly encouraging dangerous, illegal activity. We welcome a variety of viewpoints, but we do not condone writing that could put others in danger.

Vox Media declined to comment on the terms of Rensin’s suspension.

Correction: A previous version of this story said that Rensin had been suspended because of a policy preventing staffers from publicly taking positions. In fact, he was suspended because Vox prohibits its writers from encouraging “dangerous, illegal activity.”

Support high-integrity, independent journalism that serves democracy. Make a gift to Poynter today. The Poynter Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, and your gift helps us make good journalism better.
Donate
Benjamin Mullin was formerly the managing editor of Poynter.org. He also previously reported for Poynter as a staff writer, Google Journalism Fellow and Naughton Fellow,…
Benjamin Mullin

More News

Back to News