@KingShamus The story is full of his political views. The question is whether you let another student characterize him. Did you read it?
— Lee Ann Colacioppo (@LAColacioppo) December 15, 2013
Ace over at Ace of Spades HQ alerts us to an interesting development from the Denver Post. As Twitchy noted, the newspaper quietly edited its profile of Arapahoe school shooter Karl Pierson, changing a student’s description of Pierson as “a very opinionated Socialist” to simply “very opinionated.”
Lee Ann Colacioppo, senior news editor at the Denver Post, on Saturday explained why the paper changed its story.
.@LAColacioppo Since you're an editor at DP, what's the explanation for this? http://t.co/Fnw6O59Cjm @gregmooreDP @zahiratorresdp
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
@Whatwesettlefor We decided not to have another student apply a label to the shooter — a label the student likely didn't even understand ..
— Lee Ann Colacioppo (@LAColacioppo) December 14, 2013
@Whatwesettlefor We instead chose to use more concrete descriptions such as "he belittled Republicans"
— Lee Ann Colacioppo (@LAColacioppo) December 14, 2013
A label the student didn’t understand? Elsewhere in the article, a classmate describes Pierson as a “good political thinker.” His classmates must have know something about his politics.
.@LAColacioppo Why wouldn't the student understand what "socialist" meant?
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
Recommended
.@LAColacioppo Also, later in the article it's noted that some students didn't elaborate on Karl's "outside the mainstream" views.
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo When, in fact, some students had elaborated on Karl's views, only to be stealth-edited by @denverpost.
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo Is @denverpost saying that high-schoolers know enough to comment about "mainstream" politics, but not "socialism"?
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo I just find the "teenagers are dumb" edit hollow when the entire article is about what his classmates were saying.
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo I mean, the entire article is "WHAT HIS CLASSMATES SAID ABOUT HIS POLITICS". Why take that out?
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo Why say this? Without explanation, is seems @denverpost just determines what is approved speech, and edits accordingly.
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo That Karl "had very strong beliefs about gun laws and stuff" is newsworthy, but what those actual beliefs constitute isn't?
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
.@LAColacioppo Does @denverpost think high school seniors can truly label Karl as a "good political thinker"? That's in the article.
— Whatwesettlefor ?? (@Whatwesettlefor) December 14, 2013
did you ask the student to see if he understood the wonders of Socialism, or did you just assume he didn't? @LAColacioppo @Whatwesettlefor
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 14, 2013
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/411980101526773761
.@LAColacioppo @Whatwesettlefor So in an effort to parse out a motive, you've decided that his political views are irrelevant?
— That Goddamned Finklestein Shit Kid (@Supreme____Beef) December 14, 2013
https://twitter.com/sarainitaly/status/411980965972426752
I guarandamntee you that if a student told @LAColacioppo that the shooter was right wing, it would not be stealth edited out of the piece.
— That Goddamned Finklestein Shit Kid (@Supreme____Beef) December 14, 2013
@LAColacioppo @Whatwesettlefor But it's ok to talk about his Keynesian ideas? You KNOW he understands one and not the other? @AceofSpadesHQ
— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) December 14, 2013
@ComradeArthur @LAColacioppo @Whatwesettlefor Yeah how about that– He doesn't understand Socialism but gets "Keynesianism"?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 14, 2013
@AceofSpadesHQ @LAColacioppo @Whatwesettlefor Probably assumed that, since he was in a public school, he was poorly educated.
— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) December 14, 2013
https://twitter.com/Profnickd/status/411992928391688193
@LAColacioppo If another student had called the shooter a conservative, would DP's approach have been as squeamish? @Whatwesettlefor
— CLA (@ConservativeLA) December 14, 2013
https://twitter.com/VerminMcCann/status/412011928626552833
Yes, be careful about throwing around words like “journalist.”