Language and policies at the Portland Press Herald and the timing of their posturing apology, have cause me to have these feelings: Sad and Angry, upset and skeptical. I know, from speaking with others, it isn’t just me. We’re suspicious, and we’re sure they just don’t get it!

Consider the following time line:

March 16, 2007 a column appears in the editorial section of the paper using an opening quotation with a reference hurtful to persons with developmental disabilities.

March 29, a letter to the editor from SUFU (Speaking Up For Us) was printed in the Portland Press Herald in response to the Editorial column from March 16, 2007

April 2, A group of six self advocates made their voices heard at a Portland Press Herald editorial board public meeting, speaking with four members of the editorial board, John Porter, Mike Harmon, Charles Cochrane, and Jeannine Guttman. They received no apology on that day, from Mr.s Harmon and Porter

April 4, Don Imus sparks a national controversy using language on his radio and television program that hurts feelings on the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team. A national dialogue begins among blacks, whites, men and women.

April 8, a column “The wrong word used just once can hurt” By editor John W. Porter Appears in the paper along with Reader Comments.

April 12, CBS chief executive, Leslie Moonves meets with the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, leaders in a national movement to remove Don Imus from the air.

April 15, In the editorial section of the paper, a column appears, “EDITOR'S NOTE Team's brave stand should inspire us all” By Jeannine Guttman

In her column, Guttman begins, “The other day, I saw the spirit of Rosa Parks on television. This wasn't a documentary about her brave decision in 1955 to refuse to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus. It wasn't a biography of the person many credit with spurring the civil rights movement in this country. By taking a stand against what was wrong, she put a human face on the issue of racism in America. Parks died in 2005. But last week, during the televised press conference at Rutgers University, 10 young female athletes and their coach brought Parks back to life. By speaking up about racism and sexism in America, they again put a human face on the issue. And their faces were impossible to ignore.”

Human faces on a picture tube? Big, wide screen national coverage? What about us, Speaking Up for Us, and the meeting in Augusta, right here in Maine? What about the Portland Press Herald and their printing of hurtful words on March 16? Is hurting a group of people with disabilities less important than hurting a college educated basketball team? Or, is it that radio and television are more important than the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday telegram? Or, is the civil rights movement among people with disabilities less important than the racial and sexual civil rights movements?

Again I quote Jeanine Guttman’s column. “To fully understand the context of what we witnessed, it's important to reexamine our history. … I know a lot has been written and said about the scurrilous remarks made by Don Imus and his radio show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk. I'm not going to repeat the insults they hurled against the Rutgers women's basketball team.” Nice gesture, Ms. Guttman! But your editor, John Porter, in his column that appeared in your paper the Sunday before, repeated the all ready printed and discussed offensive and hurtful word FOUR times! He added insult to injury by using the phrase “suffered from a mental disability.”

It was noticed by others: from that day’s comments on the paper’s web site we read “There is still one sentence in the article that is still not appropriate. "...people who suffered from developmental disabilities." Who do you think you are to determine that a person suffers from a developmental disability as if it were some kind of ailment or incurable disease? You should have simply stated people with developmental disabilities. It is interesting though that you refer to your cousin as having "had a developmental disability" not suffering from it.”

Ignorance, fear and a real inability to listen at the Press Herald seem to rule. Mr. Harmon, the original user of the hurtful word, refused to apologize. In fact, in a prideful and ignorant response to self advocates, he bragged about using other hurtful phrases. “Then MD Harmon made a clear brief statement…" I wrote the article, I used the quote and I will not apologize for doing it." He attempted to explain that the quote was necessary to the article… [he] smugly responded that he had used the term homophobic recently and justified using it to describe the treatment someone was receiving.”

Porter, refusing to make a personal apology at the State House editorial board meeting, apologizes after the national Imus event occurs, and includes another stinging barb in his apology. And, at the same time, he bragged about his career. His column began: “It seems strange, to say the least, but last month marked the 25th anniversary of my debut as a professional writer. … I've been at this craft full-time ever since. Last week, I put pen to paper and estimated how much I wrote weekly at each job. Added together, I've written more than 4 million published words in my first quarter-century as a journalist. I don't write as much now that I'm an editor - most weeks I put down about 2,000 words. But I edit many more - thousands each day. Working with so much copy, it's easy to become desensitized to the power that a single word can have…”

Editors’ work is tough. We must balance Coverage versus shock value, opinion versus free speech and content versus advertisers needs. Its often harder than the writer’s trade, editorial decisions directly effect what the publisher represents. It is the editor’s job to make things readable and prevent harm to the media outlet where they work. After hearing from upset readers, the Press Herald’s editor and its vice President continue to ignore the language used in their paper.

Here, I take editorial license with Jeanine Guttman’s column. I believe it should have included reference to the “Harmon incidnt” and I wish she would rewrite it. I’ll suggest edits for this one little section. My additions are enclosed in brackets.

---

“They spoke as individuals, [advocates,] and as a team. And they aimed their comments at all of us. They said it's time for our country to collectively reject the off-the-cuff manner in which young women [and people with disabilities]are disparaged through words, labels and images in the cultural media.
They said what we all know to be true: Stereotypes hurt. Racist, sexist[and disablist] slaps hurt. The assault can come in the form of music lyrics, "jokes" on comedy shows, [newspaper editorials or columns,] thoughtless public commentary or talk radio banter. No matter. The outcome - the pain - is the same.”

The people’s power is limited to the strength of their response. Public humiliation often brings the media to its knees. CBS and MSNBC fired Don Imus but columnist Harmon and Editor Porter write and edit to this day. Jeanine Guttman writes a column about a national affair that closely mirrors a local, Portland Press Herald issue and ignores the local issue completely. Maybe we should ask the paper’s owners, Blethen Maine newspapers, to look at their own actions before worrying about CBS. CBS probably gets it after losing tens of millions of dollars of advertising on the Imus show. They took the ultimate step, and their chief said, as printed in the New York Times;
“ “This is about a lot more than Imus. As has been widely pointed out, Imus has been visited by presidents, senators, important authors and journalists from across the political spectrum. He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people. In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our company.”

I believe Mr. Porter’s apology, published on April 8 reflected his fear! Fear of losing advertisers, like the Imus show did. Fear of a continuing controversy, like the Imus show was involved in. Fear of being labelled as complicit in hurt, the printing of hate speech and bigotry. He tried to deflect the blame from Mr. Harmon who would not apologize. He did a poor job and Jeanine Guttman won’t even talk about it. If the Press Herald staff keeps salting the wounds they create, there must be public outcry. Some other newspaper or media outlet will have to cover the story though, the Press Herald can’t bring itself to admit their guilt and complicity in printing hate speech, hurt speech.

---Sources

Advocates in action
By Julie Moulton
http://www.abilitymaine.org/news/action.html

EDITOR'S NOTE Team's brave stand should inspire us all
By Jeannine Guttman
Maine Sunday Telegram Sunday, April 15, 2007
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/insight/guttman/070415jeannine.html

COLUMN The wrong word used just once can hurt
By John W. Porter
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/viewpoints/porter/070408wrongword.html

The New York Times on the Web, posted Friday April 13, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/business/
13imus.html?ei=5087&en=4d7e40ee0c101933&ex=1192075200
&excamp=GGBUimus&pagewanted=all

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