Adrian Dater, Avs beat writer, suspended 2 weeks by Denver Post
Adrian Dater has been suspended without pay for two weeks by the Denver Post, for whom he’s the beat writer for the Colorado Avalanche.
The reason? This tweet, on Oct. 4:
Well, that and the rest of the evening, in which Dater defended his language against dozens of readers who called him a misogynist and sent an colorfully-worded email to Jesse Spector of The Sporting News, which he published on Twitter.
Jason Lewis of HockeyBuzz had the full story and the screen grab above, including Dater’s history of criticism against Brayden McNabb, the target of his ire. The short story: In 2011, McNabb demolished Joey Hishon, an Avalanche prospect, with an elbow to the head during a Memorial Cup game. Hishon, a first-rounder selected by the Avs in 2010, was sidelined nearly 22 months
Dater’s commented on McNabb about a dozen times, at one point referring to him as a “marginally talented punk.”
Dater apologized the following morning for his actions on Twitter.
On Tuesday, the Post released the following statement:
“Journalists need to recognize that they need to be professional on all platforms. Social media is no different,” Post Editor Gregory L. Moore said. “The language Adrian used is unacceptable, and he knows it.”
I’ve known Dater for years, and consider him a colleague and a great beat reporter. But this isn't his first impulsive mistake.
I think my introduction to him was through a scathing take on ESPN and its journalistic ethics that still stings today.
The post was deleted, and he later apologized to some of the people he named. From a Mile High Hockey interview in 2008:
My overall point in that manifesto was that I didn't like a lot of the ways ESPN has changed the world of sports and journalism, and that they rip an awful lot of us print guys off, and on and on. But I named a few names, and I regretted that and apologized to them "personally." At that late hour I was writing, I just named some of the first names off the top of my head at ESPN. So that was pretty dumb of me. I actually liked the people I ripped! I mean, I used to work with Rachel Nichols, back when she was named Rachel Alexander, when she covered hockey at the Washington Post. And there I go ripping her. Why did I do that? I guess I learned that you better be careful when you click "publish" on those blogs.
Or these tweets, apparently.
