On Wednesday night, a variation of Jonathan Kaufman's campaign site URL started circulating on Twitter because it forwarded to a pornography website. We were made aware of the situation and, as you'll notice, did not report on it. That's because The Daily Gamecock's managing editor, who has since been removed from our staff, was responsible.
There was no discussion as to whether or not these actions were anywhere close to acceptable. The decision to remove this editor came immediately after I became aware of the situation. The Daily Gamecock will not employ anyone who breaches ethical codes; those names do not belong on our masthead.
We don't take situations like this lightly at The Daily Gamecock — we adhere to the ethical codes set forth by the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as our own set of rules and policies to ensure every step in our journalistic process is sound.
We hold all members of our staff to the same standards, regardless of title or ability and make a point to stay on the reporting side of the story. Too many journalists have found themselves in the news for becoming the stories themselves, and we have no intention of joining them there.
We regret that this came from someone who was once a member of our staff, and we expect better.