To some, this is America "standing up", nobody really knows to what. To me, this is idiocy and hypocrisy.
In Portland, ME, just like everywhere in the world, September 11th 2010 was the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. People of Islamic faith partied in the streets and celebrated their version of Christmas, almost. The Portland Press Herald covered the event. Due to the event's magnitude, the piece got the front page. Complaints flooded in, saying the piece was "unbalanced" because it didn't mention how a bunch of Islamic extremists committed an atrocious crime on the same day nine years prior.
That a local newspaper needs to apologise to its readership for covering a peaceful and joyful celebration because of its concomitance with an atrocity is quite silly.
Imagine the Armenian community kicked up a storm because papers decided to cover local Easter celebrations on April 24th 2011, rather than commemorate the anniversary of the Armenian genocide. I would find it preposterous. Lack of prominent coverage bears no relation to denialism.
The editorial board of the Portland Press Herald made the right decision. A big event happened in Portland, Maine, on September 11th. A local paper covers the local event. If one wants raging 9/11 coverage and the inevitable punditry, dial in to the national papers or turn on the TV.
Context, people, context! If Scientific American went to the presses on Sept. 11th, would we expect the cover to be dedicated to the events of 9/11/01?
Let local papers serve the local community. If you're craving different news, turn on your ubiquitous TV with a gazillion channels advertising crap, or do a google news search. It isn't that hard, seeing that most of the vitriol came to the paper via web.
5 comments:
I accept your argument as valid. Even so, if it was my newspaper, I would ignore the event as though their ramadan celebration never happened jus
"Lack of prominent coverage bears no relation to denialism."
Give me a break.
The press perform left wing favouring denialism all the time and this time the public has had enough and complains.
So you throw a hissy fit.
You sound like some spoiled journalist whining that shes so hard done by because people consider her/him biased.
If you don't like the letters to the editor. Quit reading them. No, instead you'll go and sneer on your blog --- just like the people you complain about.
Anon @ 08:16
I did not argue about left-right bias. I merely said that not giving something the front page or coverage does not necessarily mean you deny its existence.
Anon @ 08:19
That wasn't a letter to the editor. It was an EDITORIAL apologising because, according to those complaints, any piece about the Muslim community should be "balanced" by mentioning September 11th.
Editorially the decision not to place Sept. 11th coverage on the front page may have been misguided. But the argument that 9/11 "balances" an Eid celebration is totally bonkers.
My argument is simple: a local paper should prioritise local coverage. In this day and age, particularly in a country with sprawling media and Net connectivity, if one wants 9/11 coverage on 9/11 one can read the New York Times, Turn on CNN, MSNBC or Fox News, or just trawl the blogosphere.
Hoarfrost:
If it were my newspaper I probably wouldn't have given the celebrations the front page, just to avoid poking that hornet's nest. I don't dispute it was an unwise editorial decision. Their reasons for doing so were solid and they shouldn't need to apologise.
One minor point: the Armenian genocide was the responsibility of Turks (Muslim), not Christians. So your comparison is not valid. Had Christians killed the Armenians, then it would be.
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