 | Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177 |
| Posted 10/16/2009 8:35 AM EDT on tallahassee.com A Zing! we published this week that compared the Republican Party to the Taliban should not have been allowed to get into the Tallahassee Democrat. It’s my job as editor to catch major issues, whether factual errors or just poor judgment. I didn’t select it for publication, but read that page in advance as I do most days and should have caught it. I didn’t, it got published and I apologize for that. Understand that you only see a fraction of what gets submitted. Other editors go through the files and select which letters, my views and Zing!s we’ll publish. If you ever want to truly witness the deep divide that exists in our community, state and nation, read the unpublished Zing!s sometime. Which leads me to this point: A Zing! by its nature and definition is supposed to insult someone. That's why I’ve never liked the Zing! column, but most readers do and I got outvoted when I suggested we should drop it. The Zing! in question should never have made the paper, but many Zing!s are nothing more than insults and rants. As one reader put it, it is sometimes "an outlet for anonymous cowards." This one just was worst than most. The Urban Dictionary makes the point well. Its No. 1 definition of the word zing is this: “The new term for owned, said after saying something witty to someone in an insulting manner.” It defined "owned" as making a fool of someone else or embarrassing that person. In this case, by definition, I was zinged, I guess. I personally got more than a dozen telephone calls. The editorial staff took more. Plus we all got a few e-mails. Most people seemed to accept our apology and acknowledgement that the Zing! was over the top. Not everyone. Even after we had apologized, one woman sent this in an e-mail: “Please tell me what this morning's Zing! comparing the GOP to the Taliban was supposed to accomplish? Are you insane or ignorant or both?” A man identifying himself only as a local doctor said he was going to urge all of his patients to cancel their subscription. He didn’t say, but I presume his advice is health related. I have great doctors, but I would cancel my doctor if he started telling me what to read and/or think. My point is, no one believes anyone just makes an honest mistake anymore. That’s all this was, and for allowing this to get published, I apologize. You can send your comments by clicking the button below, e-mailing me at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com, Twitter @bgabordi, LinkedIn, Blogger.com or on my blog on Friendster. You can also find links to my blogs on Facebook.com, but you have to request to be my friend. |
No comments:
Post a Comment