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.
- 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.)
- 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.
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