Paper apologizes for gun records request

My goodness. All I can do is be happy that I never worked there and will never work there. Apologizing for a public records request?

 

One of the Facebook comments summed it up beautifully: Profiles in Cowardice

 

Newspaper publishers have apologized for much less, but that's usually when they're groveling to an important advertiser.

Why was the request made in the first place? Was the paper going to run the names and addresses of concealed-permit holders and applicants?

 

Once you get involved in running lists, then some blogger runs a list of reporters' names and addresses (which happened recently), and then you have a bunch of people on both sides claiming their privacy was violated. Newspapers have to tread rather carefully when it comes to publishing data.

Off on a tangent, but what's the percentage of the general public who knows their property tax bills are available for everyone to see? I had a former landlord who was surprised I looked up the info when he mentioned selling the house to my wife and me.

 

Exactly. Nothing to apologize for. Pretty sad day for journalism when a newspaper feels like it has to resort to this.

 

Yeah, withdrawing the request was bad enough. Apologizing to that extent was scary to read.
In next week's paper: "Last week the Cherokee Scout ran a story about a house fire, including a picture of Mrs. Smith looking at her burned house. We apologize profusely for running both the photo and story, as it clearly violated her privacy. We ask that you, our wonderful readers, please, PLEASE find it in your hearts to forgive us for this terrible lack of judgement on our part. We promise it will never, ever happen again."

 

Be sure to check out the previous letter written two days prior, stating that they had a right to seek the records but had decided not to pursue it in court.

Boing Boing has the best comment on it: "In the publisher's defense, that apology was written at gunpoint."

And the response: "But now we'll never know whose gun it was."

The Romenesko comments are sickening. Power-mad sheriff leads mob to intimidate newspaper, and a bunch of ivory-tower namby-pambies blame the victim. No wonder I've started to hate my fellow journalists.

Worked with the publisher way back when - in a sports department. He's one of the good guys. Feel terrible for him being in this situation.

 

Sorry. A newspaper that publishes or doesn't out of fear isn't worth reading, let alone working for. All papers have institutional biases, but that's different than just caving.

 

Gotta agree with Gee. Unconscionable.

That "apology" reads like the agitprop confession you'd be told to sign if you were being held as a prisoner of war.