Twitter suspends journalist's account for revealing NBC executive's email

Twitter suspended the account of one of the heavier critics of NBC's Olympics Games coverage Monday, but it might have violated its own guidelines in doing so.

According to Mashable, newspaper correspondent Guy Adams' account was shut down after he tweeted the corporate email address of NBC Olympics head Gary Zenkel, saying it constituted private information per its guidelines.

However, Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon pointed out on his personal tumblr page that Twitter's actual policy actually calls for individuals to ignore a request to take information down before they are suspended. Also, as Deadspin.com pointed out, Zenker's corprate address can be figured out via a simple web search.

Adams has consistently come down hard on NBC's broadcast coverage of the Olympics in his work for The Independent. In a column Monday, he noted the problems with the network's online live-streaming for events and criticisms for "jingoistic remarks" made by its hosts during the Opening Ceremonies, as well as the decision to broadcast events on a tape-delayed basis.

"The tactic may very well be the most lucrative for NBC, but it's the least satisfactory for viewers, and seems to blithely ignore the advent of the internet era," Adams wrote.

The network has also been knocked for omitting a sequence in tribute to the victims of the July 7 terrorist attacks in London during its opening telecast, a complaint that was renewed after a network spokesperson said the broadcast was "tailored for the U.S. audience."

[image via Agence France-Presse]