Mark Whicker, what were you thinking?

At the very least, Whicker has to be suspended for a good long while. Good guy, excellent columnist, but this was in such poor taste that as a reader, I wouldn't want to open up my paper and see his face or read his opinions for quite some time.

The astonishing thing is that he could take however long it took to write that column without realizing how insensitive it was. It's not like the momentary lapse involved in telling an offensive joke, for instance. He had plenty of time to think about this and he still apparently believed people would find it amusing. Incredible.

 

People have lost their jobs for far less significant or notorious reasons than this. But you can bet those people probably weren't lead columnists at major newspapers.

Nobody will lose their job or over this, and I seriously doubt that Mark Whicker's columns take or get much editing, or questioning, ever.

That's how it is for lead columnists at major newspapers. Generally, they can write whatever they want, and I don't necessarily mean that in a snide or bad way.

I do see what Whicker was trying to do...I think. What I don't see is why, exactly, he, of all the people at the Orange County Register, felt compelled to be the one to write this column.

Why was he stretching and reaching to try to make a sports connection (you know, because he's a sports writer) with a crime victim/story where there obviously was none?

If this, or something like it, was to be done at all, it should have been written by someone higher up, or closer to the story, or at least, someone connected to the police beat, or a news writer, editorial board member, or someone with some personal interest in the story beyond just being sorry for what she went through and being glad she "got out of the yard."

Also, it is doubtful Whicker would have gotten ahold of her, but if he was going to do this column, anyway, it behooved him to try to contact and interview Jaycee. There is no indication that such an attempt was made.

I know, I know, columnists don't always have to interview people to write what they think. But, if that had been done, then, perhaps, there might have been some direct fodder for such a column as this.

Without that, though, this column fails for a lack of basic reporting, as well as on the levels about which others are complaining.

This was one case where the columnist shouldn't have just opined/celebrated. This was an instance where some reporting had to be done if it was going to work at all.

And, it just might have given the piece a reason for being.

 

You know what? He just shouldn't have written the column. Trying to interview a woman who'd just been freed from 18 years of sexual abuse and imprisonment about the sports events she missed would not have given the column a reason for being, it would have been stupid on top of being insensitive.

 

Does the OC Register have a sports editor? A team leader? A sports topics editor? Perhaps an editor for audience development?

 

What Joe said, and then some. With the entire journalism universe trying to get an interview with her, doesn't it seem sort of pitiful to imagine a sports columnist getting in line, for a comment on missed sports events?

 

You're serious?

 

I can see how a columnist gets there. "18 years huh....man, think of everything you would have missed....that might make a decent column." And then the columnist starts to write and that voice that goes "Holy shit, this is the worst idea ever" doesn't kick in time.

But the non-apology-apology is what gets me. It's a whimpering "I'm sorry if you were offended, but I don't think I really did anything wrong apologies." This is one of those times you admit that there was no justification at all, whatsoever, and ask for the reader's forgiveness.

 

Mark Whicker is a good man. A good journalist. A very good columnist.
I've stated earlier on this thread my feeling about this particular "piece."
I hope his apology is enough and a life's work isn't remembered by one September column. I fear the tweets, the forwarding, the tiny.urls, the reposting on Facebook might just do that.
Maybe it's time we all take a deep breath.

 

If this were on my assignment list, I would have wanted to spike this. But a copy editor at the level at which I work, wouldn't be allowed to spike a column because there are so many layers of management that would have to approve such a thing. And if those managers don't think it's a big deal to run a column, well, this is what happens. Just because the copy desk is supposed to be the last line of defense doesn't mean that it still is. And do you really want to be the one to try protecting the integrity of a newspaper that has laid off lots of people and probably doesn't care whether you're the next to go? It's a tough battle to fight every day.

The OC Register is a pretty large paper, so I'm assuming someone of authority read this column before sending it to the copy desk. I'd like to know his/her/their reasoning for running this.

Thinking before he spoke (or in this case, wrote) would have served Mr. Whicker very well. Just because you are allotted space to write a column doesn't mean you should write whatever comes to mind.

 

Absolutely no argument with that.

 

It was a really bad idea by somebody who has had about a million really good ideas. I'm with fishwrapper on this.