The publisher of the weekly Cherokee Scout, in the southwestern corner of North Carolina, apologized today for the editor's request to the sheriff for a list of Cherokee County citizens who have applied for or received permits to carry concealed deadly weapons.
"We had no idea the reaction it would cause," Publisher David Brown wrote. His letter said some people had made threats against Editor Robert Horne, and he filled readers in on where Horne was from ("a small town in South Georgia") and how long he had been at the paper (since 2005) -- and his own background: local high-school graduate, and "I was married and baptized here."
Media blogger Jim Romenesko notes that the Bangor Daily News in Maine got much the same reaction, but made no apology, saying its request was related to an investigative project on drug abuse and domestic violence, and it would not make the information public, as the Journal News of suburban New York City did. In his headline, Romenesko calls Brown's letter to readers "The most incredible newspaper apology ever." What do you think?
UPDATE, Feb. 26: Editor Horne, right, has resigned, telling Romenesko that Community Newspapers Inc. didn't push him out but is leaving so the paper "can move forward." The paper's story, in Romenesko's item, notes the many awards it won in the seven-plus years he was editor, and the fact that Horne is a Marine veteran.
Media blogger Jim Romenesko notes that the Bangor Daily News in Maine got much the same reaction, but made no apology, saying its request was related to an investigative project on drug abuse and domestic violence, and it would not make the information public, as the Journal News of suburban New York City did. In his headline, Romenesko calls Brown's letter to readers "The most incredible newspaper apology ever." What do you think?
4 comments:
It takes a particularly gutless coward to ask the state for permission to walk around with a concealed firearm and not have the moral integrity to have that information published. I strongly support the right of individuals to own firearms to protect themselves and to participate in lawful hunting and sport shooting, but the paranoia of anonymous gun nuts is just more evidence that they don't deserve the privilege to carry concealed weapons.
The sheriff is obligated to track down and arrest all of those who sent threats to the newspaper, and those criminals should lose their rights to own guns just as any other violent criminals should.
The Second Amendments first words are "A well regulated militia ... ." Gun owners who use threats to curtail that regulation are criminals, plain and simple.
I am not a lawyer so I cant comment on the legality of publishing names or statistics on concealed carry permits. However, if these are public records, I dont see why such information cannot be published. It should certainly be available to (mental) healthcare professionals, law enforcement, employers and those with a need to know. Havent found that many people who have CC permits who are shy about telling the world that they are packin' though. It is public knowledge that the gun lobby has prevented the gathering and analysis of any data about gun ownership by Americans or statistics about the sale of guns between citizens. This has also prevented us from getting an understanding of how guns are procured by criminals for use in crime. All guns should be licensed, and black guns should be banned.
No Gish Award for that newspaper -- talk about the opposite of courage, tenacity and integrity ...
Still, some perspective: This year marks the 15Th anniversary of Gannett's colossal act of journalistic cowardice in retracting a true story about shady dealings by Chiquita. Compared to that incredible betrayal of its own journalists, the Cherokee publisher's betrayal seems rather pedestrian.
Bill Reader, Ohio U.
When Gannett wasted resources on a story for which it 'apologized' I read the into story of the retraction that journalism was dead in the USA.
I had been following the Chiquita story in the Cincinnati Inquirer while a patient at VA in Cinci. I was enthralled. I was / am a veteran of the South American Banana Republic diplomacy of the the Nixon & Reagan administrations. I saw daily what was reported in that series. I was part of the truth; the truth that was finally being told. I digress.
The First Amendment has now been rendered impotent by elevation of the Second Amendment and the power of arrogance for one's ignorance manifested by the tea-party. The only workable solution I can see is recission of the Second Amendment, just as we recinded Prohibition.
Fear & loathing in America: a tea-partier with a weapon in one hand and an empty mind.
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