Scott Tibbs
Herald-Times
April 17, 2007

Back to short writings.

H-T hypocritical

To the editor:

Two days after the Herald-Times ran a front-page article on a possible Ku Klux Klan visit, the staff editorial urged the community to ignore the KKK and said it would be nice “if the only evidence of this appearance were to be a small item near the bottom of Page 2.”

Could the H-T possibly be more hypocritical? The editorial board (which includes the publisher, editor and managing editor) could easily make that happen. Running a front-page story and then wishing for virtually no coverage two days later is just laughable.

In November 1999, the H-T was scolded for “running a quarter-sized picture of a Klansmen in a sheet” on the front page. A staff editorial the next day justified the photo by saying “They ought to be jolted and offended. It’s one reason we ran the picture.”

The H-T’s former stance was far preferable to their current one. First, it lacks the brazen and credibility-shred-ding hypocrisy displayed this week. Second, the Klan’s visit is newsworthy and therefore should be covered. It gives the community time to prepare and plan a response, even if the response is to ignore the racist fools and stage an alternative event on short notice.

Scott Tibbs