Bob Peale
angeli ribelli
- Joined
- Sep 4, 1999
- Posts
- 10,535
NOTE TO EGG-LAYING EDITORS: You would think a newspaper that has been around as long as the Mariposa Gazette would know better than to try slipping little jokes into its stories before publication.
Apparently it doesn't. The Gazette, which bills itself as California's oldest weekly, ran a routine item Aug. 2, announcing a meeting of the Mariposa Democratic Club. The item concluded with a list of phone numbers telling readers where to get more information, "or tap any tree-hugging, egg-sucking, fern fondling local liberal on the shoulder, because they know everything there is to know anyway."
The next week, Gazette Publisher R.D. Tucker wrote an apology, explaining the line was "meant to be a good natured barb between two employees who have differing political views." Tucker called the blurb "a violation of public trust," "an unfortunate, irresponsible action," and "totally inappropriate," and said, "Our readers can be assured that we find no humor in what was printed, and in fact are inexplicably embarrassed by it."
Mariposa Democrats were not amused, either. Fifteen of them went to the county board of supervisors' meeting last week, seeking to have the Gazette's contract to print legal ads revoked.
"I was really angry," said Sally Punte, recording secretary for the Mariposa Democratic Club, and the person who submitted the original item to the Gazette.
Punte thinks the joke revealed the Gazette's true bias. "I feel that very definitely it's the bent of the publisher," she said.
Tucker was quoted in the rival Mariposa Tribune as blaming the "irresponsible actions of a former staff member." When I talked to him, he said, "I'm not interested in making a comment. I've said all I'm going to say."
Apparently it doesn't. The Gazette, which bills itself as California's oldest weekly, ran a routine item Aug. 2, announcing a meeting of the Mariposa Democratic Club. The item concluded with a list of phone numbers telling readers where to get more information, "or tap any tree-hugging, egg-sucking, fern fondling local liberal on the shoulder, because they know everything there is to know anyway."
The next week, Gazette Publisher R.D. Tucker wrote an apology, explaining the line was "meant to be a good natured barb between two employees who have differing political views." Tucker called the blurb "a violation of public trust," "an unfortunate, irresponsible action," and "totally inappropriate," and said, "Our readers can be assured that we find no humor in what was printed, and in fact are inexplicably embarrassed by it."
Mariposa Democrats were not amused, either. Fifteen of them went to the county board of supervisors' meeting last week, seeking to have the Gazette's contract to print legal ads revoked.
"I was really angry," said Sally Punte, recording secretary for the Mariposa Democratic Club, and the person who submitted the original item to the Gazette.
Punte thinks the joke revealed the Gazette's true bias. "I feel that very definitely it's the bent of the publisher," she said.
Tucker was quoted in the rival Mariposa Tribune as blaming the "irresponsible actions of a former staff member." When I talked to him, he said, "I'm not interested in making a comment. I've said all I'm going to say."
