The Des Moines Register is beefing up its security over reported threats after a controversial article exposing the racist tweets of a now-viral hospital donor drew backlash against the newspaper.
“We are certainly aware of some of the threats they’ve had,” Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek told a local NBC affiliate. “They made a report to the police department so that goes on our radar as a place we are going to want to give a little extra attention to.”
The Register came under fire this week after reporter Aaron Calvin published a profile about Carson King, a 24-year-old Altoona man who went viral earlier this month for holding a sign on ESPN asking for donations on Venmo to pay for his “Busch Light Supply.”
Mr. King ended up raising more than $1 million after he said he would make a donation to the University of Iowa’s Stead Children’s Hospital and Anheuser-Busch and Venmo offered to match his donation.
On Tuesday, The Register and local media reported that Mr. King published two “racist” tweets in 2012 when he was 16 years old. Anheuser-Busch announced the same day that it was severing ties with Mr. King over the comments.
The mention of the tweets drew massive backlash against The Register, but the paper defended its editorial decision. Internet sleuths responded by digging up old tweets from Mr. Calvin, the reporter, who reportedly used a racist slur for black people and mocked gay marriage. Mr. Calvin later apologized and set his Twitter account to private.
Police said Wednesday that the paper has been forced to hire additional security at the Capital Square building.
“Right now they’ve got some unique security concerns with some threats that may have come in, so I think it’s an abundance of caution just trying to take care of your employees,” Sgt. Parizek told the NBC affiliate. “They’ve hired an off-duty police officer to provide a little extra security presence at their business.
“You can have your opinion and exercise your first amendment right all you want but you cannot threaten people and you cannot threaten to commit crimes and if that happens and if we are able to identify you, you will probably be arrested,” he added.
