May 19, 2008

Oh go away

Over the weekend members of the Westboro Baptist Church showed up in Hawai'i at several churches and military bases on Oahu. That's Fred Phelps' outfit, the one that pickets high-profile funerals including military ones. They got a pretty cold shoulder (video clip at the bottom of the page).

What I found interesting was that that local TV station spent a minute or two explaining to its viewers what went on in the newsroom in deciding to cover these people. There were conflicting opinions internally between those who said "don't cover it at all" and those who said "they've got a First Amendment right to speak and we have an obligation to cover news." They even went to the trouble of discussing their coverage with The Poynter Institute, the journalism school which attempts to set standards for the practice of the trade.

Good for KHNL for explaining its decision.

Posted by Linkmeister at May 19, 2008 09:46 AM | TrackBack
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