Friday, January 25, 2008

Where Is The Line?


I'm certainly not shy about criticism. In these parts there is a whole section dedicated to criticism (and to be fair sometimes promotion) of local media.

Andisheh Nouraee's Creative Loafing article on the tactics of Steve Gower and the Midtown Neighborhood Association's towards prostitutes in the midtown area created quite a firestorm of conversation across Atlanta blogs.

In particular, it has placed myself and my friends Amber Rhea and Rusty Tanton on opposite sides. Despite some of the heat which has been let loose I think something interesting can emerge.

What is bias? What is promotion of a certain point of view? Should writers be limited in using certain descriptors? Where is the line?

Instead of putting your thoughts here, come on over to Amber's place and join the discussion.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Having some free time, I just read the original article and comments on the subject. Holy crap. The guy may be a total creep – I don’t know, I’ve never met him. But it’s amazing to see the comments of people slamming a neighborhood’s desire to clean itself up when it is apparent from their comments that many don’t live in the Midtown neighborhood in question, or spend much time there.

Perhaps those thoughtful souls could post their own home addresses, and instead of trying to shame the prostitutes and johns out of Midtown, the MPSA can pass out flyers letting these people know where they have friends and allies, and they can ply their trade on their front lawns instead.