The publisher of the South Florida Sun Sentinel apologized today after an advertisement for a local gun show appeared on the paper’s front page this morning alongside stories about the Parkland school shooting:
Here is a statement from the publisher of the Sun Sentinel regarding an advertisement on the front page of today's newspaper. https://t.co/KsNx0U8zmp
— South Florida Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) May 2, 2018
Image via the Newseum:
Parkland parents, including Fred Guttenberg who lost his daughter in the shooting, had called the paper out on Twitter earlier in the day:
Looks like the Sun Sentinel editor on this page failed. A story on the victims of gun violence and they put a gun coupon on the page. WTF!!! pic.twitter.com/JTEfnTo3s7
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) May 2, 2018
The publisher also announced a moratorium on gun advertising “to ensure this does not happen again”:
We deeply regret placement of a gun advertisement on our front page Wednesday morning.
It is against our policy to run gun and other types of controversial advertising on our front page.
We understand how the juxtaposition of certain ads and news stories can appear extremely insensitive, and we failed to prevent such a juxtaposition today.
We are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again, and the Sun Sentinel now has a moratorium on gun advertising.
Guttenberg told the rival Miami New Times that he is pleased with the Sun Sentinel’s decision today but it wants a permanent ban on gun ads in the paper:
“I’m really pleased, actually,” Guttenberg says. “Someone made a really stupid error, or at least I’m assuming it was an error. They did more than apologize; they actually put a moratorium in place on more gun advertising.”
But Guttenberg says he wants the paper to go even further by making the ban on gun ads permanent. He says he thinks ads from the gun industry are fundamentally incompatible with the editorial mission of Broward’s flagship newspaper.
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