Paramount Theatre
To 'Chronicle' Staff: Shut Up When It's Not Your Turn
RECEIVED Fri., April 21, 2006
Dear Editor,
I've noticed a trend over the past year or so of an increasing number of responses from Chronicle staff members to letters published – as if the editors and writers have to get the last word in. Moreover, the responses tend to be snooty and sarcastic rebuttals, direct slams against the letter-writers. It's your rag, but I feel that responses are only justified when the letter-writer states something glaringly inaccurate, and maybe not even then. Letter-writers will tend to be a bit bombastic and/or critical of publications, but that doesn't mean you have to reply with ...
What? You say it is indeed your rag and that if I don't like it, I don't have to write a letter and be a target for ridicule. OK, maybe so, but did you really need five responses last week and the week before too? Oh, I'm being hyperbolic, and I can't count, since it was only four?
Regardless, are Louis Black and Michael King, among others, so thin-skinned that they can't let a few critical comments and even inaccuracies slide by without challenging them and name-calling back? After all, the letter-writers don't often get a chance for a rebuttal to the rebuttal, do they?
What? You mean if I stop asking questions in my letter, you might not be so tempted to offer a response? I just did it again? Oh, got it. On a final note, I see that your Web letters are “posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper.” Is that real-time?
I've noticed a trend over the past year or so of an increasing number of responses from Chronicle staff members to letters published – as if the editors and writers have to get the last word in. Moreover, the responses tend to be snooty and sarcastic rebuttals, direct slams against the letter-writers. It's your rag, but I feel that responses are only justified when the letter-writer states something glaringly inaccurate, and maybe not even then. Letter-writers will tend to be a bit bombastic and/or critical of publications, but that doesn't mean you have to reply with ...
What? You say it is indeed your rag and that if I don't like it, I don't have to write a letter and be a target for ridicule. OK, maybe so, but did you really need five responses last week and the week before too? Oh, I'm being hyperbolic, and I can't count, since it was only four?
Regardless, are Louis Black and Michael King, among others, so thin-skinned that they can't let a few critical comments and even inaccuracies slide by without challenging them and name-calling back? After all, the letter-writers don't often get a chance for a rebuttal to the rebuttal, do they?
What? You mean if I stop asking questions in my letter, you might not be so tempted to offer a response? I just did it again? Oh, got it. On a final note, I see that your Web letters are “posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper.” Is that real-time?
Rob D'Amico
[Editor responds: The Chronicle's policy has long been that staff responds only to errors of fact in the paper. Online is open territory. Recently, for a number of reasons, we have gotten lax over restricting the print responses. Thank you for bringing it up; we will be more careful in the future.]