Stylebook, cont.

Thusfar our stylebook posts have tended to the whimsical. But, a discussion at our team meeting on Monday and a pair of opinion pieces in this morning's DMN has me thinking about some more serious issues.

1. If race/ethinicity/ethnic origin is part of the story, it goes in the story. If the cops haven't found the bad guy yet, and his ethnicity is a useful identifier, it goes in -- white, black, brown or green. If the perp is an illegal immigrant, that's part of the story. (To be fair, after -- but not necessarily because-- broadcast outlets in town widely reported this angle and took the News to task for omitting, it was finally included in the sentencing story.)
   
   
2. While we will welcome all editorial viewpoints, we are under no obligation to automatically publish opposing viewpoints side-by-side and on the same day.
   I understand that there was considerable wrangling before either of these views on the Khomeini tribute event held eleven days ago made it into print -- although the discussion has been ongoing on the News' inexplicably permalink-less blog. When every story involves conversation, you don't have to negate your stance with an obligatory (and in this case logically fallacious) counterpoint. You can, on a bad day, but it's not de rigueur.

Discuss.