Dallas Morning News reporter fired after she addressed black mayor ‘bruh’ on Twitter
A reporter for the Dallas Morning News was fired after addressing the black mayor of Dallas with “bruh” on Twitter.
Meghan Mangrum, 31, and Mayor Eric Johnson, 47, engaged in an exchange on Twitter after the mayor complained that local media was not paying attention to the city’s improving crime rate.
“Our local media has no interest in reporting on this data, which is why you’ve never heard of it,” he said in a tweet last month.
Mangrum, who worked as an education reporter for the publication, responded, “Bruh, national news always follows the trend. Nurture relationships with quality local news partnerships.”
Education reporter Meghan Mangrum, 31, was fired by the Dallas Morning News for calling the city’s black mayor “bruh” during a heated Twitter exchange
The drama began when Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, 47, accused the local media of failing to report on citywide crime statistics that reflected well on his administration.
After being called ‘bruh’, he was quick to accuse Mangrum of harboring ‘inherent prejudice’
Bruh? Do we know each other?’ Johnson responded to Mangrum, adding in a subsequent tweet, “Gotta love it when people show their inherent biases. I’m being addressed as ‘bruh’ by someone who writes for my local newspaper and I’ve never met.’
According to a recent article by D magazinethree days after calling the mayor “bruh,” she was fired.
The newspaper’s editor, Katrice Hardy, is said to have asked her during a meeting if she would have used that word even if the mayor had not been black, to which she replied in the affirmative.
In the article published Wednesday, D Magazine noted that Mangrum had addressed a variety of people on Twitter with “bruh,” from “hockey fans” to the “Oklahoma Department of Wildlife.”
“I know my intent, and it wasn’t about race at all. I use that word with my friends and when I tweet about hockey. It’s just part of my language. I grew up in Central Florida,” she told the magazine. “I’m a millennial.”
The day after the rally, she attended a demonstration in downtown Dallas organized by the Dallas News Guild, where she protested several issues, including equal pay for Hispanic workers.
Later that day, she was told she would be fired. The reason they cited was violation of the paper’s social media policy, she says, adding that she had not been told which part had been violated.
The original tweet that sparked debate between the mayor of Dallas and journalists in which the mayor shared crime statistics he said were not being reported
The newspaper’s editor, Katrice Hardy, allegedly asked Mangrum in a meeting if she would have used the word “bruh” even if the mayor hadn’t been black
‘Them hit dogs keep screaming’: After the first tweet, Mayor Johnson sent several consecutive tweets back-to-back calling journalists ‘hit dogs’
Mangrum moved to Dallas last year for the paper to work for the Education Lab. She described landing the job as a dream come true
Mangrum told the magazine she only got involved because she wanted to stand up for her colleagues, who she said had been unfairly punished by the mayor.
After his original tweet, Johnson posted a succession of tweets attacking journalists, including some of Mangrum’s colleagues, who had reacted defensively to his original post.
Several times he called them “hit dogs.”
‘Those hit dogs are still screaming! And still clearly unable or unwilling to carefully read a simple tweet. Explains why the media is where it is in terms of public opinion: quality has fallen off a cliff. Pathetic,” he wrote about five hours after the original tweet.
The mayor’s chief of staff Tristan Hallman also agreed, addressing the journalists who defended themselves, as well as Mangrum’s use of the word bruh.
“Calling the mayor ‘bruh’ is disrespectful. Be a pro,” he said as part of a tweet offering advice to reporters. Mayor Johnson then remarked again, this time in response to his staffer, “You beat me to it, bruh!” The hit dogs all screamed.’
The mayor’s chief of staff Tristan Hallman also agreed, addressing the journalists who defended themselves, as well as Mangrum’s use of the word bruh.
In response to his chief of staff, the mayor posted more tweets referring to ‘hit dogs’
Mangrum moved to Dallas last year for the paper to work for the Education Lab. She had previously worked at the Tennessean for six years, including in education, and before that at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. She is originally from Florida.
“He went after local media because of their coverage of crime,” Mangrum told D. “I saw some of my co-workers respond to him by tweeting stories that the Dallas Morning News has been doing and saying, ‘Hey, Mr. Mayor, You know this isn’t quite fair.”
“Standing up for my colleagues and the work we do, when I know we are doing a good and honest job, is something I am proud of and something I look for in my colleagues and also at work,” she added up to it. .
She added that landing the job in Dallas had been a major professional breakthrough, and that a mentor told her that her career was starting to improve.
“It was a step up to come to one of the best newspapers in the country historically,” she said. “And specifically joining the Ed Lab team was kind of like a dream come true.”