USA Today’s parent company quietly removed from its newspapers an op-ed by Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy that described the unfairness of men competing in women’s sports.
Fox News first report Regarding the removal of Mr. Kennedy’s column.
Eight Louisiana-based newspapers owned by Gannett published Kennedy’s column on May 11 titled “Is Transgender Inclusion More Important Than Women’s Sports?” according to On Senator Kennedy’s website, the senator argued that activists want to ignore biological differences between men and women so that male athletes who identify as transgender “can feel accepted” even at the cost of harming their female teammates.
“Sports officials and other adult decision-makers have disregarded the privacy and dignity of young female athletes in order to accommodate biological males/transgender women and expose women and girls to a much more serious risk of injury than they would normally incur when playing against female opponents,” the editorial reads. “Biological females are more susceptible to injury than biological males. For example, female soccer players 2x chance “Male soccer players suffer more concussions than their male counterparts, in part because their neck strength to head size ratio is different than their male counterparts’, allowing them to better absorb a blow.”
He called on Congress to do more to “protect girls, girls’ sports, girls’ scholarships and girls’ futures from social experimentation.”
In a statement to The Daily Caller, USA Today’s parent company, Gannett, said the op-ed violated the company’s “ethics guidelines,” which state that the paper “treats people with respect.”
“The USA Today Network opinion team is committed to bringing you locally relevant, timely, relevant and diverse opinion reporting,” said Michael McCarter, Gannett’s opinion editor and vice president of standards and ethics. “We recognize the importance of sharing different perspectives and the important role we play in shaping the dialogue. The opinion column submitted by Senator John Kennedy did not meet our ethics guidelines of treating people with respect. After further review, our editorial team has removed the column from our website. Senator Kennedy was given the opportunity to revise his language, but not his viewpoint, to comply with our standards.”
Scoop: A Louisiana newspaper in USA Today quietly removed an op-ed by Republican Senator John Kennedy that spoke out against transgender athletes in women’s sports, without notifying him.
A truly wild story:https://t.co/XRLoQzPBHX
— Joseph A. Wolfson (@JosephWulfsohn) May 24, 2024
The outlet also told The Caller that it was offering Kennedy the opportunity to “resubmit the column.” The Caller did not respond to questions about why the op-ed was published if it violated ethical standards.
“He is welcome to repost and publish the column, and we will adhere to our ethical standards and guidelines,” Gannett told the Daily Caller.
Gannett Ethical Conduct Guidelines It calls on staff to “treat people with respect and compassion” and for journalists to “ensure inclusion and diversity in their use of AI-generated content.” (RELATED: John F. Kennedy directly asks Merrick Garland why DOJ allowed statute of limitations to expire against Hunter Biden)
The article detailed the dominating performance of NCAA swimmer Leah Thomas, who is biologically male but ranked 554th before competing against men and went on to become a Division I national champion in the women’s championships. The article also touched on the women’s allegations that they were not informed that they would be sharing the same locker room as Thomas.
According to Fox News, Kennedy claimed that USA Today was the “narrative police” and that the paper was leaning more towards “advocacy” than honest reporting.
“The USA Today Network apparently doesn’t like the way I present myself,” Kennedy was quoted as saying. “They think they’re the speech police. Drunk on their own certainty and virtue, they think they’re our moral teachers. This attitude is why so many Americans have lost trust in the media. Trust will never be restored until the media returns to neutrality instead of advocacy.”
“Most people do not support allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports because they believe it will corrupt sports, skew the results and hurt women. Some are against it,” he continued, according to the outlet. “Gannett should simply report both sides and not try to silence those who disagree.”
A spokesman for Kennedy confirmed to The Daily Caller that Gannett had removed the opinion piece.
