NPR ombudsman explains why it's OK for reporter to tweet anti-Romney photo

Yesterday, we told you about NPR White House correspondent Ari Shapiro’s photo linking Mitt Romney to bullying:

Twitchy reader John Williams (@tricityjdw), who tipped us off to Shapiro’s photo yesterday, asked NPR ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos for comment.

You might expect Schumacher-Matos to brush off the photo as just a joke or to deny that the photo demonstrates bias or to simply ignore Williams’ request for comment. Instead, he made an unexpected argument: Since Shapiro didn’t actually manufacture the “Serious Side of Bullying” placard, there is nothing wrong with tweeting a photo linking that placard to Mitt Romney.

Well, we must admit we didn’t see that one coming. We suspect that Schumacher-Matos would not be quite so sanguine if a NPR reporter tweeted an anti-Obama photo, but since all NPR reporters are liberal we will probably never find out.