January 4, 2003
MENCKEN'S DEAD, PART 1 (via pj):
Fla. Reporter Suspended for Arab Comments (Associated Press, January 03, 2003)The Tallahassee Democrat has suspended a reporter for an e-mail he sent to a reader referring to Arabs squatting "around a camel-dung fire" and putting "their bottoms in the air five times a day" in prayer.Bill Cotterell, a political writer and columnist, was replying to an e-mail from a reader angry over a political cartoon that asked, "What would Mohammed Drive?" and depicted a Middle Eastern-looking man driving a Ryder truck with a nuclear bomb in the back.
The e-mail exchange evolved into a discussion of Israel. Cotterell wrote that Arab nations have had 54 years to accept Israel. "They choose not to. OK, they can squat around the camel-dung fire and grumble about it, or they can put their bottoms in the air five times a day and pray for deliverance; that's their business."
Democrat Executive Editor John Winn Miller suspended Cotterell starting Friday for one week without pay following complaints about the e-mail from a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group. [...]
The Democrat has received about 9,000 e-mail complaints about the cartoon. Marlette said he has received e-mails threatening death or mutilation.
"We live in a really dimwitted age of political correctness," he said. "It's hard for institutions to deal with this kind of organized guilt tripping. It's bad for free speech."
This guy was suspended for a private comment for cripes sake. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 4, 2003 11:29 AM
It wasn't a private comment, from what you
have presented. He was working.
I got fired myself once for an exactly similar
incident, although that was just an excuse,
the real reason was they thought I was
organizing for a union.
Welcome to corporate journalism.
Harry - I don't dispute the company's right
to suspend him, but it's ridiculous that they did so. I'd like to generate 18,000 e-mail complaints about the suspension and see if they give him his salary back.
The cartoon was out of line but he shouldn't have been suspended over that or the email.
Free speech should be respected even if you find it offensive.
I love the new lefty chant that "hate speech isn't free speech." Speech is only free so long as nobody objects? As I've said before, the only thing the First Amendment protects is objectionable speech. (I know that the First Amendment doesn't prohibit punishing speech by a private corporation, but a newspaper should have some cojones
.)
I wonder if he thought about hiring the ACLU to try and get his weeks pay back? That would be a funny scenario wouldnt it?
Posted by: Justin at January 4, 2003 11:10 PMBut it's a small price to pay if we can get them to vote for us,right?
Posted by: Mr. Michael La at January 5, 2003 4:29 AMI agree, pj. The editor is a wuss.
But that's part of being a journalist.
My brother, long ago, went to work in
corporate America. He was appalled and
decided to return to the academy, where
he could do whatever he liked. ("Having
tenure means you never have to say
you're sorry," was his slogan.)
In some respects, I felt the same way. But
you can run a research lab by yourself.
You can't put out a daily newspaper that way.
So you compromise. I did, anyway.
I'll be interested to see what journalists
say at Jim Romenesko's discussion site.
They were already on the cartoon last
week, but the suspension hadn't come out
yet.
There was a brouhaha last year, also
from Florida, about what Orrin would
describe as a "private" email but which
forced a managing editor to resign.
M Ali Choudhury,
> The cartoon was out of line
I quite disagree--it was spot-on commentary. After all, the folks who brought us 9/11, Bali, etc claim
they are doing it in the name of Islam.
Muslims who disagree with them need to get about the business of denouncing them, and then everyone (themselves and others) will understand they aren't getting tarred by the same brush.
Yeah, I'm waiting for massive demonstrations
-- heck, I'd settle for 10 people standing
quietly with candles, like in the anti-Vietnam
War days -- of peace-loving Moslems
publicly repudiating murder in the name of
Allah.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but no such
demonstration has ever occurred, has it?
I guess other reporters and editors are cool with this.
Romenesko's letters column has one -- count 'em, 1 -- letter on this subject so far.