FAN MAIL: We got an apology and explanation from the individual
who wrote the nasty letter we printed Tuesday complaining about the
Bradford “Error.”
Our new BFF (still anonymous) writes, “Many years ago a very
close family member was in a terrible automotive accident in the
area. The family member was ejected from the vehicle and their dead
body was actually lying on the highway covered.”
“When your paper covered this story years ago, they showed a
picture of the accident on the front of your paper. The covered
body was still lying on the road and the picture of this was in
your paper.
“This, my friends, no matter how you look at it or what
amendment you want to use to make this seem like it was OK to print
is not good business practice! Our family over the years has never
forgotten this picture or your newspaper. Although this was many
years ago, it will never be forgotten.”
Point taken.
There was a time when The Era did publish such photographs. We
no longer do that thanks, probably in part to complaints such as
the one registered by our anonymous friend. But we did not do it to
sell newspapers and we didn’t stop doing it because it was a “poor
business practice.” We do try to be sensitive to our readers’
concerns.
We probably did it thoughtlessly because, in all honesty,
certain sensitivities can get lost in the rushed environment of a
newsroom. Not a great excuse, perhaps, but the unvarnished
truth.
Sensitivity, too, is a relative term. We have had complaints in
recent days about the way we handled the story about two bodies
being found in a Pleasant Street home, and a Bradford woman’s
arrest in connection with a stabbing.
In fact, what one person sees as insensitivity is what others
see as very important news stories. When someone suggests we should
not play a stabbing on the front page, well, we just have to assert
our belief that this is news. If we didn’t print it or “buried”
it, we’d be accused of covering it up.
In any case, we accept our friend’s apology (on behalf of the
current staff who aren’t responsible for what happened years ago),
and declare our feud officially over.
