Updates on the Mosque Vandalism Story (Channel 5 Purges Comments)

By Betsy Phillips, Thu., Feb. 11 2010
Nashville News
Feb. 17, 2010

5. They are working on a new film with Joseph Goebbels called "The Eternal Muslim"! (sarcasm) 1. Community members (of all faiths or lack-there-ofs) will be repainting Al-Farooq Islamic Center Friday at 11 a.m.

2. The already scheduled open house at the Islamic Center of Nashville from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday will now feature a panel discussion about the week's events featuring local religious leaders of many different faiths.

3. The story is making its way into the national news. Think Progress had a post today, as did Jim Romenesko. CNN has a story on their website as well.

4. Channel 5 News removed the comments from this story. The last time I saw the comments, almost every one of them was asking how Channel 5 could fail to remark on its own role in the story.

Meanwhile, in an email to an outraged viewer, Channel 5's news director Sandy Boonstra says she is sticking by the story and does not believe it instigated the mosque vandalism. She's claiming that no one was going to wake up one day, hear something on Channel 5, and decide to act on it.

If so, one wonders why anyone would bother to advertise on Channel 5 -- y'know, if no one is going to wake up one day, hear about something on Channel 5, and decide to act on it. Maybe that's just me, but I don't think you can have it both ways. You can't tell advertisers that getting their message out on Channel 5 will cause people to act, then turn around and deny to your viewers that putting out days of "Terrorists in Middle Tennessee!!!!" promotions followed by stories might cause people to act.

We won't know for sure until we catch these guys, but Channel 5's unwillingness to admit to their viewers that they might have taken the wrong approach is disheartening. To put it mildly.

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