Follow-up: Romenesko Should Explain This, Because I Can’t
On August 10, in response to an e-mail from an outraged veteran who also happens to be a trusted tipster, I looked at this “cartoon” by Dan Asmussen at the San Francisco Chronicle (far right item at link):
My e-mailer had seen it linked at the “Left Rail” on Jim Romenesko’s media review site at Poynter Online.
I thought the “cartoon” was, and still is, juvenile gibberish. The e-mailing vet made the excellent point that it was, and still is, crass and offensive to use dead soldiers’ caskets as a backdrop for “humor.” I suggested that readers let Romensko, the Chronicle’s Reader Rep, and Mr. Asmussen know their feelings about the cartoon. I have no idea what the response was, but I do know that the vets’ own e-mail to Romenesko was NOT printed in Romenesko’s Letters section.
This is where it gets weird. A couple of days later, my e-mailer informed me that Romenesko’s link to the cartoon had been removed. By the time I checked the Left Rail myself, I wasn’t sure whether it had been removed or had simply become old enough to drop off because of newer items.
No biggie — I decided to wait until Romenesko updated his Left Rail Archive to confirm whether the link had simply been removed or had gotten old. So, I waited ….. and waited ….. and waited. The Archive, which is supposed to be updated weekly, STILL hasn’t been updated since the week ended August 6, and is now three weeks behind. An e-mail and phone call to Romenesko as to the reasons for the delay in updating have both gone unanswered.
It is bizarre indeed to think that a Big Media guy like Romenesko might actually be stalling on updating the Left Rail Archive until he thinks a lil’ ole blogger in Ohio has stopped paying attention. But there aren’t a lot of good alternative explanations. In the meantime, he is inconveniencing readers who want to go back to Left Rail items that should have entered the Archive during that time.
I suppose it could simply be that a webmaster isn’t up-to-date on his work, but ordinarily, as with this blog, an archive update is an automatic process. I don’t know, maybe Jimbo’s tired, looking for a job somewhere else, and falling off in the conscientiousness department.
So, what’s the deal? Did Romenesko drop the link to an offensive cartoon without comment and send it down the memory hole? At least two people want to know what’s up, and my e-mailer especially deserves an answer.
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UPDATE, 8:15 PM: Welcome to Pajamas Media readers! To be very clear (because I think the PJM post isn’t), Asmussen and the Chronicle are not being questioned here (10:30 PM — for the “memory hole” treatment. See Update 2 for more). The issue is whether Romenesko buried a “Left Rail” link he originally posted on August 9 or 10 without saying anything about it, and then failed to update his “Left Rail Archive” for three weeks to defer discovery of the deletion, as pictured here just minutes ago:
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It STILL seems bizarre to me that he would go to those lengths, but as noted in the original post, I don’t have an alternative explanation.
UPDATE 2: My e-mailing vet reminds me that Asmussen and the SF Chronicle should not be considered off the hook for bad taste, total lack of humor, and for offending those who think that using dead soldiers’ caskets is not an appropriate thing to do in a “cartoon” (not necessarily in that order).
So noted, especially considering how too many people bent over and accepted the idea that cartoons of this guy suddenly became off-limits simply because extremists said so earlier this year.
