NEWSPAPERS: Sad news

I read with disgust on page A3 “Don’t Say Gay” bill signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in bold text and the following article in lower case and no byline in your paper. You did then print what the bill was about but didn’t point out that it did NOT say anything about or encourage “don’t say gay.” That’s a false and inflammatory statement. You might have as well said “Don’t say banana” or “Don’t say bicycles” in bold type above the article. Both of those statements are as relevant to the bill as “Don’t say gay” are.

I worked for the Sandpoint Daily Bee in the early ’80s and Pete Thompson was the publisher. A suspected drunk driver killed a prominent Sandpoint resident in a crash on 95 near Kootenai cutoff road and (I was a pressman, not a reporter or journalist) but back in those days the publisher actually proofread what was being printed, and there was a reference to the driver’s personal license plate and it was inflammatory and Pete stopped the presses.

Of course he didn’t support the drunk driver suspect but his license plate was irrelevant and inflammatory and he insisted it be removed. I guess The Press has come a long way from the days when integrity and truth counted. Just say what sells newspapers, sad. “Just say sad.”

JOHN MUNDY

Rathdrum