BY DAN
KENNEDY
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click
here.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
NO GUTS, NO GLORY. The
Lowell Sun, spooked by a handful of cancellations,
apologizes
today for publishing a photo of two men kissing at Cambridge City
Hall this past Monday, the day that same-sex marriage became legal in
Massachusetts. A Sun editorial panders thusly:
While the photo accurately
chronicled the new reality in Massachusetts that same-sex couples
are to receive equal rights granted traditional married couples it
represented a shocking element to what has otherwise been a fair
and cautious process conducted on The Sun's news and editorial
pages.
To some readers, the photograph
pushed the envelope too far. Those contacted by The Sun said it
represented an unnecessary, in-your-face intrusion, especially for
parents with young children.
No doubt The Sun underestimated
the photo's impact on a segment of its readership population. By
publishing it, we inadvertently inflamed passions and emotions in
people who are still trying to come to terms with the gay-marriage
issue.
We learned a valuable lesson and
hope to benefit from it....
If The Sun could turn back the
clock, we most likely would select a less intrusive photograph not
because the original photo was wrong but because it didn't fit the
go-slow approach we've endorsed for a better understanding of this
sensitive issue.
Assistant editorial-page editor Ann
Connery Frantz compounds
the outrage with a remarkably wishy-washy exercise in hand-wringing
that includes this absurdity: "Parents want to protect their kids
from behavior that offends. Although I suspect many children are more
understanding than they're given credit for, I have also felt the
impulse to keep them innocent, at least while they still
were."
So if you're gay or lesbian and
living in Greater Lowell, here's the message: you can get married.
But don't act so, you know, married.
Clarification: The
Sun's editorial apologized for running the photo, not
Frantz's column. Media Log apologies for any
misunderstanding.
THE SEVENTH-GRADER THEORY OF
POLITICAL GAMESMANSHIP. The New York Times' Elisabeth
Bumiller writes
today:
Both White House and Bush
campaign officials said there were no plans or debate about
changing the president's re-election strategy, which is to run on
national security. Mr. Rove and Mr. Bush were also described as
adamant that the president not admit publicly to any mistakes in
war planning and the American-led occupation of the country, as
Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary and intellectual
godfather of the Iraq war, did in a hearing on Capitol Hill on
Tuesday.
"There is a theory in the White
House that they don't want to appear like Jimmy Carter," said one
Republican adviser. "They think that's weak."
So how many Americans and Iraqis
must die so that no one will confuse George W. Bush with Jimmy
Carter?
Don't worry, Mr. President. No one
is going to confuse you with a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, that's for
sure.
NEW IN THIS WEEK'S
PHOENIX. The
big story: With Iraq taking
center stage, other news gets squeezed. Plus, Danny Schechter goes
public, Spare Change News goes pro, and the Globe goes
porn.
posted at 8:45 AM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
