To the extent they fulfill their mission of reporting the news, newspapers are an incredible community resource. They provide an invaluable service in informing the community of Who is doing What and When and Where it took place. That’s news. There’s even a place for the Why of the story. That’s what Op-Ed pages and sections are for.
Problems crop up when news organs such as newspapers stray from reporting the news or even interpreting the news into being the subject of the news. The Memphis Commercial Appeal would appear to have veered significantly from their mission to report the news to what would seem to be some form of political activism with their decision to post access to the State of Tennessee’s database which contains information about the men and women across the state who have applied for and received a license to carry a concealed weapon.
I really don’t know what the Commercial Appeal’s rationale is in doing this. But I am curious. I have calls in to Joseph Pepe – President and Publisher; Steve Tomb – VP of Operations; Chris Peck – Editor; Otis Sanford – Editor Opinion/Editorials; Eric Janssen – VP of Digital Media and Scott Sines – Managing Editor. None answered their phones and the voice mail I left for each was similar to:
“Good afternoon Sir,
My name is Ken Marrero and I’m a blogger in the Nashville market. I blog at bluecollarmuse.com. I’m calling to get a statement from the paper on their decision to publish access to the concealed carry database maintained by the State of Tennessee. Specifically I’m interested in how the paper believes that decision fits in with their mission to report the news. In addition, I’m wondering if the paper plans to publish access to other such databases and make available information about people who have birth certificates, marriage licenses, voter registrations, driver’s licenses, vehicle license plates and so on. My number is 615-XXX-XXXX. You can reach me there pretty much anytime and I’ll be looking for your call. Thank you.”
No one has called back yet. But it’s only been 30 minutes or so since I left the first message. I’ll update this story if anyone has a comment or explanation for the paper’s action.
Until then, and even before and after then, I urge you to contact your state legislator and encourage him to support the passage of the confidentiality legislation before the legislature in HB 53. And you may want to contact the Commercial Appeal yourself.
Blue
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