Reporter appears to be no longer at Politico after tweets slandering Pope Benedict XVI
Eric Geller reported on cybersecurity for the news outlet politico for six and a half years. / CBS News YouTube screenshot 2017 Boston, Mass., Jan 11, 2023 / 15:45 pm (CNA).
A reporter for Politico indicated that he is no longer with the organization following a tweet he made slandering the late Pope Benedict XVI on the day of the pope’s death.
“Homophobic pedophile protector and Hitler Youth alumnus dead at 95,” Eric Geller, Politico’s former cybersecurity reporter, tweeted on Dec. 31, 2022.
Geller, who was with the organization for more than six and half years, received heated criticism following his tweet.
Later in the day, Geller tweeted that he deleted his offensive tweet saying that it was in “poor judgment.”
I deleted the tweet about Pope Benedict that was offensive and in poor judgment.
— Eric Geller (@ericgeller) December 31, 2022
Following both of Geller’s tweets, Brad Dayspring, Politico’s vice president of marketing and communications, took to Twitter himself.
Dayspring said: “The tweet is a clear violation of our social media policy and was both inaccurate and offensive.”
“Violations of company policy — including the social media policy — are subject to an internal review process,” Dayspring continued.
“Without commenting further on this specific matter (as it is under review), violations of company policy could result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination,” he said.
On Geller’s website, a short biography currently says that “I’m a journalist focused on cybersecurity and technology. Most recently, I spent six and a half years covering cybersecurity for Politico, where I mostly wrote about how the government protects U.S. computer networks from hackers. I also covered election security, corporate data breaches, global malware outbreaks, and other major cyber incidents.”
It’s unclear if Geller left the company or if he was terminated. CNA reached out to Geller for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Fox News Digital reported that Geller’s author page on Politico’s website did not show any stories published past Dec. 21, 2022.
In addition, Geller’s Linkedin profile says that his work as Politico’s cybersecurity reporter ended in January 2023.
Politico does, however, have a “weekly cybersecurity” newsletter that goes out every Monday at 10 a.m., and its Jan. 9 edition says at the bottom: “Stay in touch with the whole team” and names Geller as one of the four team members.
Dayspring declined to comment to Fox News Digital on “personnel or disciplinary matters.” He did, however, point to his prior tweets about Geller’s Benedict comments and said that Geller “violated company policy.”
