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Albatross (a1batross) wrote,
@ 2009-02-21 18:13:00

Another Strib Letter

Taking an irresponsible break from my studying, I caught an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "RNC charges fall by the wayside: only about 15 percent of 800 arrests will be charged"

There's a lot wrong with that article. First, "only" 15 percent of 800 people is 120 people. That's not "only."

Second, the online article does not allow comments. Mind you, comments are allowed for 99% of the articles on the Star Tribune. A teen is mauled by a tiger, comments are allowed. A man kills himself for no apparent reason during a traffic stop: comments are allowed. But the First Amendment is methodically and systematically violated right in our own streets? Comments not allowed.

So I turned to a letter to the editor, in order that maybe one comment, somewhere, might be permitted.

We'll see if they publish it. Yet another letter describing Obama as a "socialist" might sell more ad space.

With distressing predictability, the Star Tribune soft-pedals the story that almost no one arrested during the RNC convention last fall will be charged. No online comments are permitted to discuss how our civil rights were methodically violated. No court case will allow a public airing of the systematic abuse of police power that turns America into Soviet Russia every four years. The last eight years have seen the greatest erosion of our civil rights in a generation, and the Star Tribune is cooperating fully. As your editors struggle with bankruptcy, they might want to consider how abandoning the traditional role and tenets of journalism has gone hand in hand with declining readership and relevance. If the Star Tribune cannot bring itself to defend the First Amendment out of a sense of patriotism or journalistic integrity, then at least consider how it might help sales.

(Read comments)