So am I reporting this because I enjoy it or because it is legitimate news? Let's say a little bit of both...
Editor & Publisher reports that at least two more daily newspapers -- The Oakland Press of Michigan and The Mountain Press of Sevierville, Tenn. -- have dropped Ann Coulter's column. A daily in Pennsylvania had dropped the column two days ago and the Shreveport Times dropped it yesterday.
Boo hoo.
Oakland Press Editorial Page Editor Allan Adler said Coulter's use of the word "faggot" in a Friday speech was "definitely a factor" in his newspaper's decision. He also read a statement from his paper that went as follows:
"When we picked up Ann Coulter, it was because we felt we needed a conservative columnist ... and we knew she had a following. She certainly no longer represents conservatism and apparently is more interested in being a celebrity. We are searching for a new columnist and will no longer be running Coulter."
In a story today on its Web site, The Mountain Press said it dropped Coulter because of her "distasteful and irresponsible comments over the weekend about a presidential candidate. Coulter referred to Democratic candidate John Edwards as a 'faggot' in a Friday speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. Her comments were denounced by both Republicans and Democrats," the Tennessee paper noted.
"When we agree to buy a syndicated column we expect the writer to offer responsible, reasoned opinion on national and international issues," Editor Stan Voit said in the story. "Ms. Coulter's column drew an unusual amount of criticism from our readers when we first started running it, but we felt she was a nationally known writer offering her opinions in her own style. However we will not continue to publish the columns of someone who uses people as a punch line to get a cheap laugh and who so freely uses an offensive term to describe another human being."
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign gay-rights organization announced a campaign late Thursday to get other Coulter newspaper clients to drop the columnist. This comes a day after HRC started a letter-writing effort that resulted in what it said were more than 20,000 messages urging Universal Press Syndicate to stop distributing Coulter.
Coulter reportedly has about 100 clients, but HRC was only able to find the names of seven through online searches. David Smith, HRC's vice president of programs, said many of the clients may be too small to show up in searches.