On the week that Rush Limbaugh reminded us all that he can still put his foot in his mouth with the best of them, the Penn community seemed more offended by the DP.
Rush Limbaugh said the following: "Sorry to say this, I don't think [Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb] has been that good from the get-go.... The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.... There is a little hope invested in McNabb...."
Ah yes, Rush; once again, we have fallen victim to that great far-reaching conspiracy to see young black men succeed in this world. Also, what media is he referring to? Would that be the local Philadelphia media, that so wanted Donovan to succeed that they panned him on draft day for not being Ricky Williams?
As far as his abilities as an analyst, on the list of all-time greatest misses I put him in between Magic Johnson (and then Michael Jordan went left, but Shaq said "uh-uh," so Jordan went right, but Shaq was like "no way...") and Dennis "He was running from the defense like Princess Diana running from the French paparazzi" Miller. In other words, well toward the bottom, but above Jerry Glanville.
Rush has since resigned from ESPN under a flurry of criticism and gone back to his own private fantasy world, which approximately 20 million American listeners tune into regularly (by contrast, this column reaches a cool .0001 percent of the American population. Clearly, there is no justice). But at the very least, the incident serves as a harsh reminder that, as far as race relations in this country go, things are not exactly hunky-dory.
Rush's comments were, at the very least, racially insensitive. The same cannot be said for the DP.
Several students and Penn community members are offended by the DP's coverage of recent crime. Some believe that, by slapping robberies and stabbings and shootings on the front page instead of putting them in the Sports section where they belong, we are sensationalizing the news and promoting negative stereotypes about the West Philadelphia community.
Well, seeing as how I was a part of the West Philadelphia community before I was a Penn student, I can tell you that there's a lot to like about it. There's also a lot of crime. Reporting that crime happens in West Philadelphia (stop, I say, stop those presses!) isn't painting it in a negative light because the crime has happened, does happen and probably will continue to happen in our lifetime.
The more specific issue, however, is the DP's coverage of a particular alleged crime, one that happened (did I mention allegedly?) in Penn dorms, involving an alleged sexual assault. The accused happens to be a black male. That the DP ran this young man's photograph has upset and offended many. In fact, you would have thought that this was the first time the DP ran the picture of an accused-but-not-yet-convicted member of the Penn community. But it isn't.
Fact: when any member of the Penn community is accused of a crime, as soon as their name is released, the DP runs their photo, regardless of the race or gender of the accused.
Fact: there is no delay/speeding up of running people's photos based on their race. The motor oil kids' photos ran on the second story about them because their names hadn't been released in time for the first one.
Fact: no one seemed to mind when we ran photos of accused professors Tracy McIntosh and Paul Mosher, two white members of the Penn community accused of crimes just as grave.
I understand the concern that if he is found innocent he will be forever stigmatized as a criminal. But the stories in no way promoted the idea that he had already been convicted.
That the DP should hesitate to run photos of accused members of the Penn community before they are convicted is a salient point, one that I might even agree with. But it should apply to all students, and the fact that there was not a similar outcry for previous accused members of the community who happened to be white (and South Asian) undermines the logic of the argument.
No one has, at least in public, come out and called the DP or its coverage racist. However, it has certainly been insinuated. The DP has been accused of sensationalizing coverage of crime in a way that promotes negative stereotypes of black people. This is a serious allegation, and one that has upset a lot of people because there is absolutely no agenda here on the DP's part.
The real difference between the cases is that this most recent one involves a student who is black. It shouldn't make an ounce of difference, ideally, but in reality, it makes all the difference.
You don't need to see Rush Limbaugh make a big fat idiot out of himself to know that we have a long way to go as far as race relations are concerned. But progress is a two-way street. To achieve it, we need people like Rush to shut up or go away or both. But those on the other side need to trust, from time to time, that we are just reporting the news as we see it, without an agenda, malevolent or otherwise.
Eliot Sherman is a junor English major from Philadelphia, Pa.
