Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that “men are respectable only as they respect.” If that is to be the measure, The State newspaper has invited very little respect for an invasive story it ran last weekend about the tragic fire in Charleston resulting in the loss of nine firefighters.
By its own admission, the newspaper obtained the release of several hundred radio transmissions that were exchanged between the doomed firefighters and the dispatchers and fire chief. These transmissions, the agonizing last words uttered by men who realized they were about to die, are expressions of faith and love for wives and family. These transmissions are not news, and to publish them callously invades the privacy of grieving families left without husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. The general public has no need to know these last, desperate words, and reporting them in the pages of one of the state’s major newspapers only deepens the pain and loss for families that have already suffered far too much.
Perhaps we shouldn’t expect a newspaper owned by a company headquartered on the West Coast to exemplify our southern values of courtesy, consideration for one’s neighbors, and respect for bereaved families. But the newspaper crossed way over the line and descended to the depths of vulgar tabloid journalism in this case.
To add unthinkable insult to injury, the newspaper chose to run its story about the final words of nine brave firefighters next to an advertisement headed “RED HOT MATTRESS PRICES.” The quarter- page advertisement was vividly illustrated with deep red flaming tongues of fire. One is left to wonder whether this was some very disturbed copywriter’s idea, or whether the editing at the newspaper has become that shoddy.
The State newspaper has roots deep in the history of our community. Its founder is memorialized close to the State House grounds. There is no competing major newspaper in the Midlands between which readers can chose, but our people have a right, nevertheless, to expect more than this type of sensationalist tabloid trash from South Carolina’s largest newspaper.
The Constitutional guarantee of “freedom of press” should never relieve a major newspaper of its duty to conduct itself professionally and in good taste. The editors of The State owe an apology to the firefighters’ families and to all South Carolinians they have blatantly disrespected with this story. Have you no decency?
38 comments:
funny, in a serious way. nicely put but u must not like livin. ur just one, theyre many. u have a little sword and they have big missles. when they retaliate youll never no what hit u. theyll for sure strike back, time and again til they smoke u.
yur a brave ol fool not afraid to say what needs sayin. we'll seriuosly miss u when yur gone.
Tell it like it is brother!
Tell it like it is!
Wow. Someone needed to call them on their hate toward our state. Thasks for sticking out your neck. I hope they won't try to chop it off.
This is why
I hate
the State
scoppee, scoppee, oh so sloppee.
it costs them lots of market share to keep her.
Blah blah blah whine. You must be expecting a Norman Rockwell, Readers Digest kind of world. Get over it.!!! Is the State perfect? NO. Is anything perfect? NO. Get a life, you sorry republicant!!! Or maybe your just a Sanford livertarian. Either way, go back north where you come from and leave us be, carpetbagger. Go, go,go. We don't want yankees like you preaching to us. i'd rather have a SC liberal then a yankee conservative any time.
I've been an observer of SC politics for over half a century and in that time I've been on both sides of the aisle. The State paper and its old companion, The Columbia Record, have changed too. The State has seen its ups and its downs through the decades but it's currently at its nadir in terms of relationship with the community. At its zenith it was a grand pleasure to read. I was proud to allow the State to enter my home. My neighbors felt much the same as I did. For at least the past decade though I've felt ashamed that it's in the newsracks representing my hometown. Its news and especially its editorials are far too frequently mean for meanness sake and strongly opposed to most of our traditonal middle American values. The example you've pointed out of its heartless disregard for the anguish of the grieving families and friends of the firefighters that were lost in Charleston is but a single embarrassing example of the paper's relatively newfound disdain for middle American values. We could all give many more examples. It wasn't always this way in Columbia and perhaps we'll never have a good hometown paper again. If we do, I'll be one of the first to start subscribing again but until we do I'll get my news from other sources that don't try so ceaselessly to offend my community and its leaders. I wish the paper were locally owned again. Those who the State now employs have never learned the Southern art of disagreeing agreeably and those same people convey attitudes that they are beyond learning. Think about the style they've developed to an art form and the style they promote. Their nasty standard style (I'm not getting personal, I'm talking about their nasty style where they think it's okay to just freely and routinely vent their spleens)is itself a prime contributing factor to violence, hatred and wars in the world today. Why do they think it's appropriate to be such a negative influence in our community? This is our hometown. We deserve better. People need to speak out. My weekday morning coffee group has had enough. One of the fellows buys a Charleston paper to pass around to read. It's much better than our paper in Columbia. Is it too late to get our old friendly paper back?
never do battle with someone who buys paper by the roll and ink by the barrel. you will lose every time. now, shut up.
Hey General,
It didn't take the State very long to respond to you, from the looks of today's editorial page. Don't worry, you got in a better lick on them than they got on you.
Is it Mss. Scoppe who has the long running beef with you? Or Mr. Warthen? Both are quite wierd in their own peculiar ways.
Write/right on. The State is awful.
We should start a committee of concerned citizens to guarantee the seperation of media and state. I think we've done gotten a pretty good handle on the "danger" from white churchgoers(church and state). The State and other papers like them have made sure white churchs won't speak out politicly.
I appreciate your compassion and hard-hitting facts. Many speak of the liberal bias that exist in the mainstream media but don’t publicly call attention to it. Thank you for that. Unfortunately, most still buy those papers and watch their broadcasts. Until we take a genuine stand against this sort of tongue-in-cheek reporting, these “creative journalists” will never be held to account. Without competition there is no incentive to change anything. As newspapers lose readership to the internet there still remains a large group of non-internet savvy folks, like senior adults, that keep the subscription numbers up. These pillars of our community care about what goes on around them and the policies that could potentially affect them. In other words, they support candidates that speak to their concerns and financially support charitable organizations to which they feel strongly. Sadly, the greatest generation of all time has fallen prey to phone scams and misleading sweepstakes offerings that come through the mail. The amoral predators that propagate these scams have attacked the foundation of our great nation – our senior citizens. Does the state paper have a new sales manager?
Please be considerate in your comments. I won't publish any of the many criticisms of the paper that have used coarse or profane language. While I understand the intensity of your feelings, this is a family-friendly site. Thanks for reading, and God bless you all.
You nailed it man. I gotta give you a 10 on this post. Best yet. Olympic performance all the way. Proud of you! Keep the faith.
My first job was with The State and the old afternoon paper, The Columbia Record. In the 50s and 60s their owners, editors and reporters were truly part of our community. Sadly, that has changed through the years, and now they really have no stock in our community. Regrettably, this is also a national trend, but it is more obvious here in SC because of the wide disparity in the belief system and world views between mainstream South Carolinians and those who run The State. That paper has become a little island enclave on Shop Road, with no real ties to the fabric of our community. They have become as much a part of our community as the carnival workers who visit a few blocks down the road for two weeks in October. However, in fairness to the carnival workers, they are just making a living, and aren't bent on trying to pick apart and tear away the social and religious fabric of our community.
Anyhow, just some random thoughts. I still read The State, but have lost my appreciation for it several years ago. I really believe they perceive themselves as outsiders, and it shows in their arrogant editorials and often in their reporting.
you're right but i don't think you should have taken them on like that, they have no sense of fairness when it comes to public discourse, and they'll make you pay
Agree that the paper doesn't reflect our/your values...you just have to realize that, otherwise to read it, especially the editorial page, would be too irritating (although I expect they're not "bad" people, they just aren't mainstream conservative South Carolinians)...you are not going to change them, and especially their abject arrogance that they probably don't even see in themselves, so you might as well focus your energies elsewhere.
Plato Too raised a good point. It's the arrogance - that they are always right and those with whom they disagree are always wrong - that makes the editorial page so difficult to read. They will never acknowlege a mistake, even when the mistake is obvious or later proves by the most compelling evidence to be wrong. So your post was most likely an exercise in futility.
i agree with your point, but you just aren't gonna change those people and its a waste of your time
thanks for working to protect the retirement investments it is s0mething you can do...but PLEEEEZ, vot for COLAs for retireees if there's anyway to do it, my dad is one and they deserve it
so i'll be polite you and your repubs are all a** holes and you just dont get it. THE STATE RULES
THE STATE = MICHAEL VICK = TRASH
afraid free speech is right and besides their too arrogant to apologize
Are you serous,everybody knows how bias and dishonest they are. nobody I know believes them or takes the serously,they lie to sell more papers. Look at all thew stuff they made up on you amd Andre Baure. all the stuff they made up to hurt him and you helps the both of you because peolpe know how bad they always hate you and lie threw their teeth and othing we can never doabout it anyway because their owned by CNN which is the biggest communist group in America. I'd say just laugh them off cause we'rew stuck with that sorry paper and they can't hurt you if you dont give them any mind. We got real problems and them no counts arent worth lisening to thinking their so much better and asmarter than evrybody else,their as sickning like msot of the rest of these people are saying. Thats a real good picture of the lake,its not from close around here is it. looks like good fishing probly right around the edges
The most likely explanation for the editors:
Warthan-inferiority complex
Bolton-race baiter
Scoppe-menopausal man hater
In reply to the last anon, I often disagree with Warren Bolton, but unlike the other two he doesn't try to sound like a know it all in his columns
Thanks for at least trying to keep those big-headed yahoos decent but I fear it's a lost cause b/c we let them get too far, like a kid that never got any discipline. We need to keep speaking out on them when they get too far out of line.
I really do suspect that the out of towners that pay them make them write the way they do. Some have lived in this area a good while (I think Brad grew up in Cayce, and don't know about Scopee but she's been with the paper a long time). I do not believe their biting and spiteful type writing really reflects their philosophy if they've lived here a good while. This is too good a place to live and the people around here are too good. So, give em a brake and don't blame them, sir, blame their bosses weherever they are! You can't really blame em for trying to pleaze their boss. After all, the readers can't fire em but the paper's owner can.
Keel, those excuses don't fly. They're responsible for what they write.
The last good newspaper man in Columbia was Tom McLean. He was a man of substance and honor. Unlike today's crowd at the paper, Tom was sensitive to the people he rubbed shoulders with daily throughout Columbia and beyond.
Today's editor-types at the State have invested nearly nothing of themselves in the community, except to try immodestly to promote themselves through their own work. But in no way are they contributing members of the community in the classic style of Tom McLean, a modest human being.
Instead they spend all their effort selling their decaying product that's not half the daily paper it was a mere 15 years ago. The editors today seem to be oblivious to the fact that they're in a race to the bottom.
How long they keep Columbia's paper financially afloat is not a bet worth waging. You'd be much safer putting your money on the probability that Rev. Al Sharpton becomes the next senior minister at First Baptist Church in Columbia. How very sad.
Tom was a GENTLEMAN in every sense of the word. He didn't look down on his neighbors, and that's really the big difference between him and the folks there now.
ditto
true hit the nail on the head. Mr. McLean had decency, and his decency came through in his editorials. That's really what its all about...just plain decency.
im tired of reading the state and readign about the state so lets move on to another post
REPLY TO HAD IT:
I agree that it's time to move on.
It was interesting to learn the depth of feeling that so many readers expressed about this particular post. Many people indicated that there was an editorial page problem with arrogance and a meanness of spirit, and that probably not much is likely to change; but while I breathe, I hope.
I expect to post another topic in a few days. Thanks for reading and for sharing your feelings.
hey man-
look at todays paper. the skirt got you again on her editorial page. she must think about you day and nite. she wants you to no its dangerous to critisize them. theyll trash you trash you trash you trash you trash you trash you trash you. get my point? give it up man
A classic case of decency deprivation was shown on the front page story today, ridiculing a young teenager (my neighbor) who was trying to represent South Carolina to the best of her abilities. One misstep, and South Carolina's largest newspaper is all over it writing to embarass the yound lady and her parents. How abollutely rude! That goes to prove the lack of self respect and self worth held by those who now run that tabloid.
agree with lexington, its one thing for the blogs and national news, but not the girl's hometown newspaper. c'mon, let's get some decency here, pleeze someone will give her and her parents an apology. an 18 year old girl gets stage fright for a moment, so we make that our lead news story? what poor taste!!!!!!!!!!!!
True to form, yesterday's cartoon was tacky and disrespectful, given that at least 60 people have died so far in the Greek arsonists' fires? Those deaths aren't a laughing matter.
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