The ESPN editor fired Sunday for using “chink in the armor” in a headline about Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin 
said the racial slur never crossed his mind - and he was devastated when he realized his mistake. “This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny,” Anthony Federico told the Daily News. “I'm so sorry that I offended people. I'm so sorry if I offended Jeremy.” The headline - “Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin's 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-stopping Loss to Hornets” - appeared on ESPN's mobile website at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and was removed by 3:05 a.m. Battling to contain a furor, the sports network fired Federico/Irving Dejohn & Helen Kennedy, New York Daily News. More here. (AP photo: New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin, center, drives through Dallas Mavericks' Vince Carter, right, and Dominique Jones)
Question: Is ESPN over-reacting to an honest mistake? Or is it acting appropriately whether or not the mistake was intentional?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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