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In the story that the S-R broke last week re: the hate crime perpetuated against a local man of Middle Eastern descent, newspaper editors debated how to crop this photo. The editors and I had trouble with the foul name spray-painted on the man’s vehicle in the lower lefthand corner of the photo. We chose to somewhat obscure the pejorative. The Coeur d’Alene Press elected to show include the name in the photo it published over the weekend. I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong here in terms of editting. But I would like to know what you think.
Question: How would you have handled the racist graffiti in the photo?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Sisyphus on December 07 at 12:12 p.m.
Make ‘em squirm. This is everybody’s problem. Hiding is sugar coating. These guys deserve to be pariah’s. They should not be able to hide behind the skirts of propriety.
mike_s on December 07 at 12:24 p.m.
By showing it you do exactly what the perpetrators want. You can still get the point across without falling prey to the offensive language. At the same time, not showing it gives the perception that the newspaper is holding back. Mostly, though, I don’t really care for an environmental portrait here and would have pursued a more real photograph. Perhaps a photograph of a police investigation of the crime or one showing its impact on the victim. Did he try to clean this from his vehicle or take it somewhere to have it removed? A photo showing the removal of the offensive language would have worked and could have been more justified. Have the photographer tag along with the victim as he deals with this and hope for a more real moment.
brentandrews on December 07 at 12:36 p.m.
I would quit looking into my navel and get to work publishing the picture as the photographer saw it, Dave. You S-R eds worry about image more than any Chamber reps I ever met. Are you a bunch of preachers, or what? Here’s my idea: The next time an editor wonders aloud “what kind of message we’re sending” by publishing a story or picture brought in by your enterprising staff, that editor is fired and I get his job. The newspaper is not the Bible. There is no “message” in news. It’s just the good, the bad, and the ugly. Edit one of them out and you do a disservice to the people you’re trying to serve. Run the picture, and give the naysayers room on the editorial page.
zelda on December 07 at 12:47 p.m.
That’s a tough one. It’s an obscenity; the same to me as a crude word for male or female anatomy or intercourse. Problem is that one person’s outrage is another person’s freedom of expression. And in this case it’s both.
Maybe the point would be made by obscuring everything but “sand.” Those of us who have been around for a while can fill in the blanks. The photo, even with those words obscured, shows the grotesque and extreme measures these nut jobs are using to harass and intimidate. And it’s escalating. The victim is right to be scared and so should all of us.
The CDA Press is just plain vulgar. That’s the best word I can use to describe that rag. Now that Obama is president, it’s like they’ve dropped all pretense of impartiality on race issues but if confronted they’ll say they’re engaged in a battle against Socialism, er, something.
brentandrews on December 07 at 12:55 p.m.
You use the descriptive “nut job” and call the Press vulgar. Hmph. And your solution is no different than what the eds have already done. You add nothing but the usual jab at the other paper, yet manage to employ the very powerful S-word in your effort. Curious.
redman on December 07 at 1:15 p.m.
How is hiding or cropping something the right thing to do? Tell it like it is or you loose credibility. Why is SR afraid of that word?
mike_s on December 07 at 1:35 p.m.
“Tell it like it is or you loose credibility.”
It is often the little mistakes, misspelled words and such, that erode credibility.
Fixer on December 07 at 1:39 p.m.
-“Make ‘em squirm. This is everybody’s problem. Hiding is sugar coating.”
Exactly. Hopefully the discomfort caused by exposure to reality will encourage a few folks to act that otherwise wouldn’t have.
zelda on December 07 at 2:06 p.m.
There are lots of things that newspapers don’t publish — names of rape victims being one of them, and photos of minors in some circumstances and photos of gruesome accident scenes. That wasn’t always the case and I remember plenty of pictures in the Spokane Daily Chronicle in the 1960s that could have run in “True Detective.”
It used to be that newspapers and mags were criticized for cropping things out of photos, which changed the meaning sometimes. I’ve even seen S-R photos (before digital photography) where a certain detail in the photo was emphasized by dodging and burning the enlarger light.
Anyhow…newspapers are supposed to be knowledgeable of prevailing community standards (I guess HBO is one way to take the pulse). The CDA Press sets the bar pretty low and the S-R frequently exercises more judgement. Further evidence of the chasm between sensibilities in this nation. My opinion.
brentandrews on December 07 at 2:52 p.m.
I don’t want to be too hard on you, you’re obviously one of the great regional newspapers, but in an age of falling readership and growing population something is obviously missing - it might just be that it’s blood, sex, and money that you need more of, in other words more things that quicken the blood and make people angry or sad or whatever - some serious emotion that causes reaction on the editorial pages. I think we whitewash our papers - free them of political incorrectness and everything offensive or maudlin or seemingly exploitative (pinup girls, anyone?) at the risk of making them boring to all but the intelligencia. Newspapers are in a death match with the other media. I don’t think they’re being given full use of their resources in the fight. Show the picture, and your readers will react. What thrills an editor more than a page full of letters! He cares not how they feel, just that they express that feeling in his pages!
Yes, Z, a lower bar, perhaps - that’s a far sight better than nut jobs, eh? We can find common ground.
zelda on December 07 at 4:57 p.m.
Well, Brent, you have me chagrined and wearing a hair shirt (figuratively speaking). I have just as much of an appetite for crud as the next person, but I guess I want to pick the places where I read it. I spent a fair amount of time today with the bottom feeders on Gawker, The Daily Beast and TMZ, but don’t expect to meet these kinds of “needs” in the S-R.
I do miss the flash-bulb days of the Spokane Daily Chronicle. All the photos were b&w and you could never be sure if the liquid on the pavement from a car crash was blood or radiator water.
Then, in the 70s and 80s, journalism got all high-fallutin and professional. None of this Damon Runyon stuff was appropriate.
The funny thing is it took a Brit (Tina Brown) to apply a genteel veneer to gossip and make it a respectible read in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair and TDB. The joke’s on me. Thanks for holding up the mirror, Brent.
Sam on December 07 at 10:12 p.m.
A hard one. The crop was tasteful. But someone walking on the street seeing it doesn’t have the ability to crop with their eyes.
JBelle on December 08 at 5:56 a.m.
I would have printed the best shot irrespective of what was or was not included in the frame. I’m assuming the best shot would be graphic and include a certain indictment against the horror of racism perpetrated against a neighbor and a member of the community. This picture is not too great—let’s say Michelle McNally would have passed on this one and gone for one with much less of the early winter sky and a little more of what happened to an innocent guy just trying to make his way in our corner of the world.
LarrySpencer on December 08 at 7:14 a.m.
I know of three people in the area who I believe would harm or damage their own property to gain attention or make political gain. Haitham is on that short list. Bringing several Gang-banger dressed thugs/bodyguards to the public hearing for “protection” or show was over the line.
Phaedrus on December 08 at 7:19 a.m.
I know of three people in the area who I believe would harm or damage their own property to gain attention or make political gain.
And what would be your reaction if people said that about you? Would you be calling DFO whining to have it taken down? Like you did about the teabag comment?
Phaedrus on December 08 at 7:24 a.m.
LarrySpencer, I think I’ll email that comment to Haitham ‘s attorney, see if he has a problem with your accusation.
sue on December 08 at 10:50 a.m.
Spence thinks Mr. Haitham damaged his own property for attention? That’s quite an accusation. Now I would never say that Spence does anything, like file a lawsuit, send out last minute mass mailings, write smarmy letters to the editor, for attention’s sake, but maybe that’s why it’s so easy for him to believe a victim has filed a false police report.
Joker on December 08 at 11:49 a.m.
Sadly, Larry Spencer’s opinion is pretty common. His view is disturbing because it shows an ignorance to racism and hate. It’s akin to people who believe rape victims were either making it up or asking for it.