Stewart sacrificed over Twitter storm
ALASTAIR STEWART makes one small mistake and he is shown the door. Aren’t people entitled to warnings and second chances any more? Where once we had religion, we now have political correctness. Religion gave us Ten Commandments by which to live our lives, but there would be a lot more commandments in a bible of political correctness. Maybe religion wasn’t so bad after all — at least it preached forgiveness. We seem to be becoming more intolerant in our efforts to eradicate intolerance.
MIKE HORGAN, Heswall, Wirral. ALASTAIR STEWART has always come across as a decent, sensible person. I do wonder why he put himself on the same level as President Trump with his use of Twitter.
S. H. BROUGH, Egremont, Cumbria. THE departure of Alastair Stewart from ITN shows the difficult balancing act for organisations in the public eye trying to maintain their profile, but also their reputation, in an environment where rushing to express a simplistic judgment often gains the most social media traction. Many firms encourage employees to build the company’s profile by posting content on social media. Unless employers set clear boundaries for this output, the reputation of the organisation, as well as the individual, is on the line. Employees need to understand that posts from personal social media accounts can lead to consequences at work and that joining Twitter pile-ons is not advisable.
RUSSELL DANN, Reading, Berks. IF EVER we needed more evidence of our increasingly intolerant society, we have the cases of Harry Miller — who has been accused of committing a hate crime because of 30 allegedly transphobic tweets — and Alastair Stewart. Those who complain about tweets must have too much time on their hands.
JEFF DAVISON, Swanmore, Hants. I AM dismayed and disgusted at the way Alastair Stewart has been treated. I scripted and presented a short programme for ITV, which Alastair introduced. I later gave an interview to a quality glossy magazine that mentioned the programme, but when it was published, I noticed Alastair’s name had been misspelt. Concerned, I phoned ITN and pointed out the error. An hour later, I received a phone call from a friendly and most courteous Alastair Stewart, who lightly dismissed my concern. I will miss his clear, precise dialogue when reading the news. Every inch a gentleman, he exuded that commodity so sought after — class.