Boston Herald Guild Members Boycotting Twitter After Reporter Suspended

Members of the Herald’s editorial guild are boycotting Twitter this week after reporter Chris Villani was suspended without pay for three days for violating the company’s social media policy. Villani’s misstep? An April 20 tweet stating, “The notes found in #AaronHernandez cell were letters to his daughter & fiancee, saying he loved them & would see them in heaven, per source.” It was a legitimate scoop in the highly competitive national news cycle that followed Hernandez’s suicide, and it got noticed: Villani’s message was retweeted 219 times and liked 246 times. Other outlets later reported the same news. But because Villani didn’t seek approval from editorial brass to tweet out the news, which was attributed to an unnamed source, he’s now out three days pay. —Boston Magazine