Just don't tell the truth

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views December 2, 2002]

Believing that they were doing a service to the city, the editors of the Philadelphia Daily News published on the paper's front page, on August 22, photographs of 15 of the most notorious fugitive murder suspects. A total of 41 fugitives were described in accompanying articles. The articles were carefully researched, and no one found fault with the cited facts. Fault was found, however, with the newspaper for publishing the photos and articles in the first place, since all of the suspects were black, Hispanic and Asian, with blacks predominating.

Philadelphia's black "leaders" hit the ceiling over what they called "racist" journalism, and the usual white groveling ensued. Diane Schachterle, writing in The Egalitarian newsletter of the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI), explains:

Leaders of the black community could be heard huffing and puffing and demanding the firing of the editorial staff for insinuating that only black men commit murders. One week later the paper issues an apology. Editor Zack Stalberg said the editors decided to apologize not because of any factual inaccuracy on the cover but because of the impression it made. "I think the cover was literally correct, but a mistake on our part because what we have to worry about is perceptions, and not just the literal truth," Stalberg said. . . .

Critics of the whining say black community leaders once again hijacked a sincere, truth-based community service and turned it into "racism." The issue was never white or black, but murderers--murderers freely walking the streets of a city and continuing to threaten the security of its citizens.

Ward Connerly, who heads ACRI, declared:

I believe the editor should resign, not because of what the paper wrote but because of his cowardice and admission that literal truth should be subordinated to perceptions.

By the way, in less than a week, reports Schachterle, two of the featured fugitives were in custody directly due to the publicity.

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