Word: editor
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Louisville Courier-Journal and Times went ahead and used the words, but later regretted it. "We regarded it as an official report, and it is our policy not to tinker with the text of an official report," says Executive Editor Norman Isaacs. As complaints poured in from church groups and offended readers, Isaacs candidly apologized. "It was an error in news judgment," he adds. "It isn't likely to happen again...
Dashes, asterisks and euphemisms are still the way out chosen by most editors. But "if the image of the word is already formed in the mind of the reader," says John Seigenthaler, editor of the Nashville Tennessean, "you might as well use the word. We have the responsibility of getting over to the reader exactly what was said. We should say what we have to say in this society and say it accurately...
Barnyard Bath. Torn between literal reporting and euphemisms, the daily press is still struggling for balance. "We will use so-called crude words, but only when they are relevant to telling the story," says Boston Globe Editor Tom Winship. "It's titillating to use dashes, but it's adolescent to bathe people in barnyard words...
...Editorial Director A. C. Spectorsky calls "shock value or the nervous laughter they might produce, but if the editorial context calls for them, we use them." Atlantic and Harper's both feel that their audience is ready for rough language. "With our literary and sociological claims," says Atlantic Editor Robert Manning, "I see no reason why we should not make judicious use of those words if they make the difference in portraying an extreme feeling." Harper's Editor Willie Morris feels even more strongly: "We're not encouraging shock for the sake of shock...
...Charles de Gaulle were regularly quoted using foul language, who would have understood the depth of his rage when he used the term chienlit (literally, "crap in bed") in referring to last spring's student-worker uprising? "As one who savors a good obscenity," says Roy M. Fisher, editor of the Chicago Daily News, "I would hate to see it cheapened by overexposure...