Following criticism over its decision to run a pro-Proud Boys op-ed and not disclose the author was the spouse of a member of the far-right extremist group, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune took down the controversial column on Monday. As of publication, the digital article was replaced with a 404 error message. The original piece, titled “Attacking Proud Boys does a disservice to caring school parents,” was a response to an earlier guest op-ed in the Herald-Tribunethat called out Sarasota school board members’ friendly association with the violent organization. “When I think about the Proud Boys, I think of fathers, business owners and veterans,” Radovich wrote in her column. “These fathers have spoken at many School Board meetings. They are concerned about the direction that their local schools are heading in, and I commend them for coming to School Board meetings.” While the op-ed that Radovich was responding to specifically identified her as the spouse of Nicholas Radovich, a member of the Proud Boys, she and the paper failed to disclose this information in her piece. Beyond that, the paper sparked outrage for providing a platform that gushed over the Proud Boys, a group that has been deemed a terrorist organization in several countries. “The Herald-Tribune erred Sunday in publishing a guest column by Melissa Radovich with the headline ‘Attacking Proud Boys does disservice to caring parents,’” Jennifer Orsi, executive editor of the Herald-Tribune, later said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
