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Letter: Organizing protest isn’t media’s job

The Columbian
Published: November 28, 2013, 4:00pm

Lou Brancaccio sparked himself quite a little community event with his comparison of Ed Barnes to Spartacus in his Nov. 19 column, “‘I am Ed Barnes!'” Brancaccio wrote of the impending Clark County commissioners’ meeting: “I urge folks to show up! Give the commissioners an earful!” He suggested they stand up and shout, “I’m Ed Barnes!”

Brancaccio’s antics echo an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1963, “The Printer’s Devil.” A mysterious staffer at a newspaper had a special linotype machine to lay out the newspaper. Any story he wrote would come true, making his stories accurate. This gave the newspaper the ability to not just report the news, but to make the news, which it then reported. It is a dangerous line to straddle, between news reporter and news maker. Staged news events are unethical, even if they are increasingly common.

If Brancaccio’s objective is to highlight what he views as unethical behavior by government officials, he needs to stay on the right side of the ethical line. Report on citizen protests, or organize citizen protests. Don’t do both.

David Arnett

Vancouver

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