Firearms industry v. Boston Globe
It’s no secret that the media is biased against guns. This (received via email) seems like a good thing to publicize:
September 5, 2006
Ms. Renee Loth, Editorial Pages Editor
The Boston Globe
135 William T. Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125Dear Ms. Loth,
The Boston Globe ran an opinion piece, “The Sting” by Timothy D. Lytton, on August 27, 2006. It called New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approach to stopping the flow of guns into the city “ingenious.”
Your editorial pages’ refusal to allow ‘equal time’ to the firearms industry following this 1550 word diatribe, which was chockfull of misrepresentations and inaccuracies, is disappointing and sadly predictable.
While editorials have every right to espouse a particular cause, world-class newspapers have long sought to balance these pieces by providing a venue, the op-ed page, which allows their readership an opportunity to understand both sides of an issue.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue of guns and Second Amendment rights, the mayor’s plan is a foolhardy one. His tactics have been deemed reckless for interfering with as many as 18 ongoing criminal investigations, in the process jeopardizing the lives of law enforcement officers and others. Is this our take alone? No. The Justice Department is investigating his actions and law enforcement advocates criticize them.
The fact that the Boston Globe, chiefly Dante Ramos of your staff, twice dismissed our industry’s reasonable request for equal time is as outrageous as it is telling. To have been offered a letter to the editor as a “fair” alternative to Mr. Lytton’s piece demonstrates the difference between your newspaper and papers that are genuinely interested in providing their readers with balanced news coverage.
The readership of the Boston Globe deserves better; readers are entitled to hear both sides of this very important topic. As the trade association for the firearms industry we, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, will defend our industry from the distortions and misinformation that is propagated when you publish pieces like “The Sting.” Fortunately there exist many other venues that are interested in presenting both sides of an issue.
Sincerely yours,
Ted Novin
Director of Public Affairs
National Shooting Sports Foundation
11 Mile Hill Road
Newtown, CT 06470-2359Phone 203-426-1320
Fax 203-426-1245
Email tnovin@nssf.org
Web www.nssf.org
It is indeed predictable.
September 6th, 2006 at 2:11 am
Quick Link-o-Rama
September 6th, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Don’t newspapers belong to “professional associations” which have guidlines for “journalistic ethics”? I’ve received some satsifactory results from complaining to such bodies – they do tend to take themselves quite seriously.
September 6th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
I emailed Ted and told him where I read the story and thanks for his good voice.