By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Mar 25, 2011, at 2:24 PM Updated on 3/25 at 2:24 PM
JONEZIN
Well, if at first you don’t succeed …
Last week, Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, uttered an ethnic slur on the floor ...
When NBC airs its exclusive interview with convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky next week I hope time is taken to also ...
All together now, awwwwwww.
Poor (not financially poor) Mark Zuckerberg is $7.2 billion less wealthy.
That’s billion ...
CONTACT THE BLOGGER
918-581-8332
Email
The wacky folks from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., just can’t stay out of the news. Or the news just can’t get enough of the cult that demonstrates at funerals.
In the last few weeks, a portion of time in which the Westboro nuts have been in the news a lot, I have heard many people say and write that if the newspaper and TV would simply ignore them, they would soon go away.
I’ve been in the newspaper business 40 years and, I have to say, this is a tough one for me. I sometimes feel the same way. Ignore them, deprive them of publicity, and they will soon be forgotten.
On the other hand, the newsman in me says it’s news and that’s our business, reporting the news, all of it or at least as much as the paper can hold.
I kicked this around with some of my colleagues. They helped me to a conclusion.
As much as we detest the Westboro clan and the evil, hurtful things it does, it is news. We make editorial decisions every day - what stories will run; where they will be placed in the paper. We edit the stories. So, yes, there is some discretion used every day in the newspaper business. No newspaper can print every bit of all the news every day. It’s physically impossible.
If, however, we start picking and choosing stories based on our personal preferences, then that becomes manipulation. Like them or not, they draw a lot of attention and that makes news.
Maybe they should be relegated to what we old-timers would call the truss ads – a spot deep in the bowels of the newspaper. That keeps them in the news, but with a much lower profile.
Yes, the Westboro tribe thrives on publicity. But, honestly, they’re also crazy enough to actually believe in what they are doing, no matter how twisted it is. And they likely would continue doing it even without the press.
It’s a tough call. But, the way I figure it, after this many years in the business, if it’s not Westboro, it will be someone or something else. There’s always room for another nut.
Only active print or digital subscribers of the Tulsa World are allowed to post comments on stories posted to Tulsaworld.com. After you fill out the form below and click submit, your comment will be published instantly online along with your screen name.
By clicking "Submit" you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
