Posted on 11/23/2004 8:37:58 AM PST by FairfaxVA
Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot is dropping columnist Michelle Malkin because, according to the paper's editorial board, she's an "Asian Ann Coulter" whose columns are too "anti-liberal" and "seemingly mean-spirited."
Responding to a reader's complaint about the conservative scribe, the paper's public editor, Marvin Lake, announced on Monday that "she's outta here."
In quotes cover by Editor & Publisher, Lake explained that the Virginian-Pilot's editorial board had concluded Malkin was "too stridently anti-liberal" and that readers objected to her "seemingly mean-spirited rantings and suggested that she be dropped." Malkin's meticulously researched columns have covered a variety of topics, including exposing Sen. Robert Byrd as a Ku Klux Klan sympathizer years after he formally left the organization, and warning how America's failed immigration system has left the country vulnerable to another terrorist attack.
Malkin has also authored two landmark books and immigration and the Japanese internment during World War II.
Still, editorial writer Don Luzzatto was unimpressed, telling Lake: "I was really put off by her penchant for name-calling and ad hominem attack. I think we can do much better.
Virginian-Pilot editorial board member Bronwyn Lance Chester went so far as to invoke Malkin's race.
"Shes an Asian Ann Coulter. . . . She says outrageous things just to get TV appearances and book deals. Shes the worst of whats wrong with punditry today. She adds absolutely nothing to genuine political discourse.
At any rate, time to contact one of those Asian-American Human Rights groups and see if they would take up the cause. They are like hungry vultures, endlessly and thoroughly scanning US news stories and public statements across the land and pounce at the first indication of anti-Asian bias. They are also usually liberal and/or socialist to the core. It would be fun to call them on this, see what they would say in reply if someone asked them for their position. Would be interesting to see their double standard in operation.
I guess we should be glad thay didn't call her "Oriental"
Michelle Malkin has too much sense for a rag that is shooting for nonsense. Plus, she writes superbly.
They are correct, she is an Asian Ann Coulter - and some of us celebrate the diversity of background and symbionic opinion.
The editor's description, however, was a racist subliminal.
Our gals (Coulter, Ingram, Malkin and Kelly (?)et al., need their own newspaper!
Bronwyn Lance Chester has revealed herself (himself?) as a racist, obviously upset that any minority would dare to deviate from the liberal line.
Funny how misogyny and racism always go together, as Condi Rice can attest.
A badge of honor for the venerable Ms Malkin.
If you live in this area and get home delivery ...DROP IT!
Letter to the editor: http://home.hamptonroads.com/feedback/submit.cfm?id=1&url=http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/
For the record: She was born in Philadelphia, raised in South Jersey and graduated from Oberlin College.
That stupid cracker barrel newspaper down there prolly thought they were really breaking new ground when they started carrying black columnists in the 1970s....and they would have been of the mind to write something like "he writes pretty good, for a negro." Sheesh. Losers.
Why izzit the libs are the ones who bring up race as an issue? I honestly did not know Michelle Malkin was Asian (as am I) until this very minute......Nor did I care......
IMO, it sounds like censorship of convenience.
They lost - so they shoot the messenger.
For non-Virginians: Norfolk is a liberal bastion as far as I'm concerned. Look at the county by county election map. See that big blue splotch on the east end of Virginia? That's Norfolk. When I retire I'm moving to Virginia Beach or Chesapeake!
I believe I recall reading that her father was a black American service man and her mother was originally from the Philippines.
Does this mean that Molly Ivins is a Judean Maureen Dowd?
The truth be dammed. Looks like the libs are doing some ethnic cleansing.
FYI. Know any Tidewater-area FReepers?
Present!
Hmmm.... I'm having a hard time discerning her ethnicity. Could we get more pictures? :^)
Virginia Paper Drops Columnist Malkin
By E&P Staff
Published: November 22, 2004 3:00 PM ET
NEW YORK
On daily newspapers' opinion pages, columnists come and go. But the dumping of an increasingly popular conservative at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., got more of a public airing than usual.
The newspaper's public editor, Marvin Lake, announced in a column responding to a reader's complaint about editorial balance at the paper that Michelle Malkin, who had been added to give "another voice to the conservatives," had been dropped as a columnist because she was "too stridently anti-liberal."
Lake explained that "readers often took issue with her seemingly mean-spirited rantings and suggested that she be dropped. Well, shes outta here, silenced for being 'too stridently anti-liberal,' the assessment of the editorial board."
Editorial writer Don Luzzatto told Lake: I was really put off by her penchant for name-calling and ad hominem attack. I think we can do much better.
Another editorial writer, Bronwyn Lance Chester, said: I think she habitually mistakes shrill for thought-provoking and substitutes screaming for discussion. Shes an Asian Ann Coulter. I also think that, like Coulter, she says outrageous things just to get TV appearances and book deals. Shes the worst of whats wrong with punditry today. She adds absolutely nothing to genuine political discourse.
Lake pointed out, however, that the paper had also dropped Molly Ivins not long ago for being stridently "anti-Bush." (emphasis added)
As for Malkin: She didnt seem to be as strident when we first got her," said Roger Chesley, associate editorial page editor.
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