As Meghan Mangrum tells it, the post caused the Dallas newspaper to violate its social media policy.
Reporter claims she was let off from the Dallas Morning News for an innocuous tweet directed at Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, D.
The education reporter for the Dallas daily, Meghan Mangrum, responded to a tweet by Johnson on February 11, 2022, in which Johnson stated the Dallas media overlooked positive data showing a drop in violent crime over the previous years.
“And as we’ve seen in recent years, mainstream media sources care little for policing or crime stories that don’t fit their narrative. The media won’t cover it unless it appeals to our baser tribal impulses or shows a city in the throes of violent, unchecked turmoil.” The words you just read were written by Johnson.
“Bruh, national news is always going to pursue the trend,” Mangrum counseled the mayor in the now-deleted Saturday tweet. Build stronger ties to well-established regional media.
“Bruh? Should I recognize you?” The city’s mayor gave a reply on behalf of the Democratic-controlled administration.
Former Dallas Morning News editor and writer and current chief of staff to Mayor Johnson Tristan Hallman aims at Mangrum in a tweet: “It’s unprofessional to refer to the mayor as “bruh” in conversation. Accomplish your goals like a seasoned pro.”
When Mangrum wrote “bruh” on Twitter, she had no clue that three days later she would be out of a job.
According to Mangrum’s account in D Magazine, Dallas Morning News executive editor Katrice Hardy grilled her at long at an HR meeting the following Monday.
As Johnson is Black, Hardy felt Mangrum’s use of the Twitter slang “bruh” to refer to Johnson had a racist undertone.
“Hardy, who is of African descent, challenged her on whether or not she would have referred to the mayor with the slur “bruh” if he had been White. The White guy Mangrum gave his approval here. Whether she’s tweeting at hockey fans or the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife, she’s quick to throw around the word “bruh.” “There’s a piece on it in D Magazine.
The Dallas Morning News was contacted, but no one there was available to speak on the matter.
Mangrum is quoted in the magazine as “Never in a million years would I try to convince someone of color that discrimination isn’t racism. It’s very unacceptable to not feel that way… Yet I know that my intention was not racist. While talking to friends about hockey or tweeting about the sport, I use this term often. Just another word in my everyday vocabulary. In a nutshell, I’m a millennial from the middle of Florida.”
The next day, Mangrum coordinated a union demonstration with his fellow Dallas Morning News employees to draw attention to the persistent problems they had been having. After a string of mishaps that day, her boss decided to terminate her.
The publication did not elaborate after alerting Mangrum that her post was unacceptable.
Mangrum defended her use of the “bruh” Twitter slang during an interview.
My employees and I have been responding to the mayor by tweeting stories from the Dallas Morning News to say, in effect, “Hey, Mr. Mayor, you know this isn’t fair,” Mangrum referred to the magazine while discussing the mayor’s complaints about the coverage of crime in the local media.
She took great satisfaction in standing up for her team when they had done something well.
Once Mangrum was let go, the Dallas Guild News filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against DallasNews Corporation for unfair labor practices, as reported in D Magazine.
While she is now unemployed, Mangrum plans to relocate to Florida to be closer to her family.
According to an interview conducted by Fox News Digital with Hallman, the Dallas Morning News was never asked to discipline Mangrum, despite repeated demands from Johnson’s office. “There’s no way for us to evaluate the effectiveness of a private company’s social media rules or hiring practices. Best good luck to the reporter in her future endeavors.”