"Not News," Until at Last a Big Bomb Blast, Says Seattle's Post-Intelligencer

Leibowitz's Canticle ^ | September 1, 2007 | Leibowitz

[Bob Leibowitz]

Seattle's Post-Intelligencer decided last week not to publish photographs of two men of interest to the FBI. Because the issue was the security of the Pacific Northwest's #1 terrorist target, the Washington Ferry system, competitive media and the blogger world heaped enormous disdain on the paper. It was reasonable to think the P-I would move on, avoid further comment and hope not to hear a loud "boom" across Elliott Bay.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The paper's managing editor responded with a defense that rocks the walls with dismissive haughtiness. Said he

"We get to decide what is news and what isn't, what is fair and what isn't."

The paper then sent out one of its star local columnists to make its case. Robert Jamieson sees racists behind every tree, except his own:

"IT'S OFFICIAL: We live in a republic of fear. And when fear runs rampant, our good sense escapes us.

"Photos, which spread across the city and state last week, showed two Middle Eastern-looking men accused of seeming suspicious on state ferries."

***

I don't know if the men are middle-eastern or middle-earthers and neither does the P-I. It doesn't matter for the purpose of helping to protect my family and neighbors because I know what the men look like. By failing to publish the photos, and choosing a racial label to attach instead, the P-I has profiled the two men (who may very possibly be completely innocent of anything nefarious) and stigmatized those who are from the middle-east in a way that no other media has.

***

Finally, the gratuitous slam at the great unwashed public, his readers

"Instead, the feds enlisted the public -- like Orwellian lackeys -- to be the eyes and ears of agents who have wrongly singled out people before."

[Bob Leibowitz]

So, for all of those who read this, who are the very "Orwellian lackeys" of which the Post-Intelligencer complains, no need to read further… unless you want to see for yourself the possible, even likely, consequences of the P-I's position.

[rockrr]

The only time the Post-Intelligence has ever had an original thought, it has been wrong. In this respect at least, we can all take comfort that some things never change ;'}

[rawcatslyentist]

The paper then sent out one of its star local columnists communists to make its case.

[oneolcop]

Boycott the businesses that advertise in the P.I. Watch tem change their tune.

[Paperdoll]

If the citizens of Seattle do not actively and abundantly picket the Seattle PI with signs, and cancel their subscriptions instantly, I will lose any respect for them I may have.

Does that Managing Editor know something that we don’t know? Either it’s all over, we’re gone, forget freedom, private property and forget sovereignty. Or he is a complete ego-maniacal idiot.