A student reporter showed incredibly bad judgment Wednesday night.
Marisa Martin, a University of Alabama student reporter participating in ESPN’s Campus Connection program, tweeted an ill-advised joke shortly after news broke about the shooting at Florida State University. Her joke featured polarizing FSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston.
The screen grab below, courtesy of USA TODAY’s For the Win blog, tells the story. Martin’s joke obviously was in poor taste, though she unfortunately wasn’t the only one to mention Winston’s name on social media in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s shooting.
Martin subsequently deleted her Twitter account. Alabama’s Campus Connection Twitter feed later claimed that Martin’s Twitter account had been hacked.
[tweet https://twitter.com/UACampusConnect/status/535327160245182464 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/UACampusConnect/status/535334776497254400 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/UACampusConnect/status/535334859775164416 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/UACampusConnect/status/535335189661384705 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/UACampusConnect/status/535337456309379072 align=’center’]
An ESPN spokesperson since has clarified that Martin is not an ESPN employee. The Campus Connection program is said to be like a college internship program in which student reporters can produce content or help with production.
At least three people were wounded Wednesday night when a gunman opened fired outside Florida State’s Strozier Library. The gunman later was shot dead by Tallahassee police.
