I concede, I had paid little attention to this story.
"Seb Costello has spoken out after being targeted by an “errant tweet” from Sunrise reporter Edwina Bartholomew.
The Channel 9 reporter confirmed on radio this morning that he would be discussing the situation with lawyers.
This comes after reports Nine is considering legal action over the extraordinary tweet posted by Bartholomew, claiming her words have had a “devastating” impact on one of their journalists.
The drama started on Thursday when Nine News Melbourne published a tweet featuring Costello, who filed a story outside the Victorian state parliament after a security scare.
A man had driven a vehicle containing flammable liquid to the front steps of the building and threatened to set himself on fire.
Bartholomew posted a reply to the tweet on Saturday morning, saying: “Surprisingly articulate for a (censored).” We can’t reveal the word she used for legal reasons.
Her tweet was deleted 50 minutes later."
So, I was somewhat curious as to what this devastating word might be. Journalist? Man? Heterosexual? White guy (that's two)? As of this post, after a few minutes of insert search engine, I haven't discovered the word, unless the word is actually 'censored'. Now, if I make it my mission to find out this word, if I go on social media, do some online detective work, make some effort, I assume I can find this mysterious, powerful word. Likely the reader has better search engine skills, and has already gleaned the truth. But as of typing, I only have my imagination.
I'm not sure the internet has ever quite been the wild west. Famous Search Engine had as its' motto 'Don't Be Evil', which I initially thought opaque. I now understand a little better. They understood the inherent potential for evil. Now, a single word has just been scrubbed from the internet, or at least the part of the internet that your average non-autist generally uses; doubtless 4-Chan knows The Word. I find this impressive, if no-little disturbing. What we have here is the convergence of the media, the legal apparatus, the law, and the search engine behemoths, all to banish a single word to the margins. I don't watch the news, and had never heard of Seb Costello. Apparently he is the son of Peter Costello, former Treasurer, and current Chairman of Nine Entertainment, which perhaps explains, in part, the legal flexing.
If I discover the word, can I post it as an update? Just one, single, tiny word, describing a journalist that many had literally never heard of. I could post it, but I wonder if it would be taken down ...
That's it, I know now. For certain, it's the most heinous insult of them all, the worst, most brutal insult imaginable to the media classes: "Trumper".