Some News Sources Do Their Job, Some Don't
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The Boston Phoenix was started in 1966 as a four-page arts-and-entertainment alternative newsweekly. Today, it is one of the largest publications of its kind in the country. The Phoenix is nationally known for its award-winning, incisive journalism and publishes the most comprehensive arts-and-entertainment listings of any paper in New England.
Over the years, the Phoenix has received many awards for excellence in journalism, including honors from the New England Press Association, the Penny-Missouri Newspaper Awards, the American Bar Association Gavel Awards, and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. In 1994, Phoenix classical-music writer Lloyd Schwartz was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. In 1988, the Phoenix got into expansionist gear by acquiring the NewPaper in Rhode Island. In 1993, the NewPaper was re-christened the Providence Phoenix. In September of 1999, the paper extended its reach into Maine and Southern New Hampshire with the publication of the Portland Phoenix. Today, total Phoenix circulation is 253,000. The Phoenix Web site features 90% of the paper's content posted online every week, and it is searchable and archived. We've won a host of critical awards for both our layout and content. |
I was on the Phoenix Web site reading their editorial as to why they chose not to print the "Muslim Cartoons". Unfortunately for me I didn't copy and paste the item to save as it seems the Phoenix has now taken that editorial off its server. Clicking this link no longer works.
Believe me, it was there and I've got a screencapture to prove it:
There are three reasons not to publish the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed with his turban styled as a bomb … and the other images that have sparked violent protests and deaths throughout Europe, the Middle East, West Asia, and Indonesia:
1) Out of fear of retaliation from the international brotherhood of radical and bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do. This is, frankly, our primary reason for not publishing any of the images in question. Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and as deeply as we believe in the principles of free speech and a free press, we could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year publishing history.
Indeed - their darkest moment !
The intro above states that the Phoenix has received numerous awards for their reporting. Maybe they should think about returning those awards now.
Truely a shame as the full text of this editorial should be on the record! Their website says:
Send your general feedback to feedback@phx.com - Maybe you should ask them about this!