Twitter suspends UK journalist critical of NBC Olympics coverage

Twitter suspended the account of a journalist from The Independent because he tweeted an email address of Gary Zenkel, the President of NBC Olympics. Guy Adams was outraged over NBC's broadcast delay of the Opening Ceremony.

In an article in his newspaper, Adams recounted the events leading up to his Twitter suspension: on Friday, he took to his Twitter account to bash NBC's tape delay of the Opening Ceremony. One of his messages "suggested that frustrated viewers voice their complaints to Mr Gary Zenkel, the President of NBC Olympics," he writes. He then included the corporate email address of Zenkel, available online. He goes on to say: "Later that afternoon, I was invited on the Los Angeles talk radio station KNX 1070 to discuss the absence of live coverage of the ceremony. If I remember correctly, I declared myself 'utterly outraged' during that two-minute interview, saying with only a hint of understatement that NBC was: 'treating the people of America with contempt.'" On Sunday, after filing a short story for the Independent on NBC's delay, he then logged on to Twitter. He found out his account was suspended and Twitter told him that his account "has been suspended for posting an individual's private information such as private email address." Adams found out NBC was behind the suspension: NBC Sports released a statement saying, "We filed a complaint with Twitter because a user tweeted the personal information of one of our executives." What's confusing is Twitter's own guidelines. They state Twitter users can't post non-public, personal email addresses, but Zenkel's email in Adams' tweet was public and easily accessible. It seems Gary.zenkel@nbcuni.com can be found with a quick Google search. We'll update the story as new information comes in.