From today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution:
A Roswell newspaper is defending a controversial cover illustration that placed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a rifle’s cross hairs.
Senior editor Tim Altork, responding to the controvery, limited his comments to the article (“It’s a very fair piece, a smart piece”), nicely sidestepping the real issue: in a country with a history of assassinating powerful black leaders, is it appropriate for a newspaper to create an illustration that shows America’s first mainstream black presidential candidate in the crosshairs of a rifle scope?
Journalists have an obligation to report the facts — even controversial ones. But this illustration is not a fact; it is a manufactured image that depicts (and, perhaps, even encourages) a reprehensible course of action.
The Roswell Beacon should issue an apology. The publisher, John Fredericks, and the senior editor, Tim Altork, should lose their jobs.
link: Picture of Obama in rifle crosshairs draws fire | ajc.com
Add comment