SRU student newspaper editor, state rep. get into Twitter spat
A state representative for a portion of Butler County recently got into a Twitter exchange with the editor-in-chief of the Slippery Rock University student newspaper.
Cody Nespor, editor of SRU's student newspaper, The Rocket, said in a phone interview Friday that the exchange with state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-10th, whose district spans parts of Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, began after he witnessed Bernstine being “very rude and childish” on Twitter, and posted from his personal account in response.
On March 29, Nespor, a Mercer man studying communications focusing on digital media production at the school, tweeted “Every so often I'm reminded how much of an embarrassment for Butler County having Aaron Bernstine as its rep is.”
“He (Bernstine) found it and liked it, which I thought was juvenile,” Nespor said.
Two days later, Bernstine responded, mentioning two other students.
“Having SRU in my district means I get to work with young college journalists (they're the future). There is A ++ talent ... then there is the editor in chief of the student blog/paper @CodyNespor SRU who pushes a lib agenda and is a horrible writer,” Bernstine wrote in a tweet which has since been deleted.
However, screen captures of the tweet were saved and published by College Media Matters under the headline, “Politician attacks student editor on Twitter.”
A further tweet from Bernstine following the thread encouraged media outlets to hire the other two students.
Nespor said Bernstine using two other students in his attack was a big surprise — not only to him, but to the other students named.
“The student media at Slippery Rock is so supremely close-knit,” he said. “I work and collaborate with both those individuals, and for him to use them to attack me just shows how little he knows about what is going on at Slippery Rock and the community atmosphere.”
Nespor said that liberal agenda to which Bernstine was referring was most likely based on an editorial he wrote last month about gun control, in response to the Parkland shooting.
“My mother is a middle school teacher, so that is an issue that is very important to me,” Nespor said.
Nespor also said he suspects that Bernstine was not pleased by a Sept. 20 editorial criticizing him for a tweet he posted regarding highway protests in St. Louis over an ex-police officer's acquittal in the death of a black man.Bernstine's tweet in that incident read “If anyone EVER tries to stop my car on a highway with negative intentions … I will not stop under any conditions.”Nespor said after the most recent response, he replied in a professional manner, asking what concerns Bernstine had and providing contact information.“I really didn't think too much of it because people get in Twitter fights everyday,” Nespor said. “But when I'm at school in Slippery Rock, I am in his district. I live in Slippery Rock nine months of the year. I love Slippery Rock University, I love the town of Slippery Rock and I love Butler County.“To see him as the state representative being so juvenile and so dismissive of people on Twitter, I don't think that represents Butler County very well. I want Butler County to be represented the best it can be, and when I see him acting like a fool on Twitter, that's not how people in this county are.”Nespor will graduate in May, and plans to enter graduate school studying journalism at either Arizona State or West Virginia University, with the career goal of landing a journalism job in the future. “Journalism is where my heart is,” he said. “I love writing, talking to people and telling stories.”Bernstine, in a response to criticism of his tweet to Nespor, said: “I don't treat media any different regardless if they are 22 or 82. Acting as a non-partisan writer and serving an agenda is wrong on both sides.”In an emailed statement Friday, Bernstine continued to defend himself:“Facts matter. Whether in news, columns or editorials, even on Twitter, facts actually count. Twitter is not a safe space. While I am a public official, I get tired of the name-calling, the trolling and made-up facts.“People, including editorialists — students or professional — have the right to write their own opinion, but they should not resort to personal attacks or made-up facts, if they do, they are substandard journalists.”Follow-up questions about why the tweet was deleted and if it was authored by Bernstine or a staff member were not returned as of press time.
