Tribune prints naughty words, and I'm there for it

& the Sun-Times is reminding us that news ain't free

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Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

Expletives undeleted

Sunday, the Tribune ran an excerpt from Gregory Royal Pratt’s upcoming book, “The City is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis.” I was intrigued and pleased to see that the paper chose to print the raw language of some of the exchanges Lightfoot had during the vandalism and destruction that accompanied the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd:

It would have been easy for the paper to have used “s—” and “f—” but why? We’re all adults here — the idea of a “family newspaper” that must protect the sensitivities of young readers is increasingly silly. First, very few minors read the newspaper anymore. And second, those minors who do read the paper are unlikely to be shocked by these protean, garden-variety intensifiers that we consider impolite.

The excerpt ran in the opinion section, and so I asked editorial page editor Chris Jones about the decision to include the cursing: “I approved it as editorial page editor on the grounds that if public officials were using that kind of language on that day, as Greg makes clear from his reporting, a fair accounting of those events requires us printing what they said,” he wrote. “Or so my thinking went.”

Good for him. I find it patronizing and paternalistic when publications and cable news outlets censor words that everyone in their audience knows, hears all the time and, in many cases, uses freely. Most magazines and online publications, like most podcasts and most streaming TV shows, season their offerings with salty language to excellent effect.

When I was at the Tribune, an editor chided me for being “coarse” when I tried to get an even milder semi-vulgarity into a column — I think it was “sucks,” or “pissed off,” but I can’t remember exactly. I concede the point. The more these crude terms seep into ordinary discourse, the more coarse our culture becomes.

The bleeps on broadcast TV and radio and the omitted letters in newspapers are a reminder that such language is not appropriate in certain situations and is considered substandard and potentially offensive. Though “s—” simply causes the reader to think the word “shit,” the dashes serve as a prim, paternalistic reminder of what is considered polite language.

But my view is that publications ought to be descriptive, not prescriptive — they should communicate to people in language they understand using words that convey precise sentiments. Vanishingly few people are shocked or even offended by the word “fuck” as it is commonly used.

So far, “No complaints as far as I know,” Jones told me. 

Still, we saw this headline in the Sun-Times earlier this month — “Bears reporter Courtney Cronin explains herself for dropping F-bomb on ESPN 1000 morning show.”

Cronin was on a remote connection appearing on the “Kap & J.Hood” show, and she heard an echo in her headphones that prompted her to say ““All right, fuck this,” and click out. While it’s true that the Federal Communications Commission can fine broadcasters for even accidental uses of foul language, it was hardly a pearl-clutching moment.

“I said something I shouldn't have said,” Cronin told the Sun-Times. “Clearly five long days at the combine caught up with me and were the catalyst behind my sleep-deprived on-air flub.”

Really? In 2024 it’s news when someone lets a profanity slip? That is fucked up.

But perhaps you disagree:

Speaking of swear words

I have few grumbled imprecations for this wholly inappropriate initiative by the Chicago Teachers Union:

Teachers are partnering with Bring Chicago Home, an organization that is strongly advocating a vote for the property-transfer tax referendum? Giving “voting support” to students who are supposed to be in class? *

This story was first amplified by the Illinois Policy Institute, which opposes the referendum and has filed an ethics complaint against the CTU with the Chicago Public Schools and the city inspector generals office. The union, which strongly backs the referendum, issued a statement saying the event will be non-partisan.

Chicago Public Schools officials are reportedly reviewing the matter.

But no matter how you feel about the referendum or the factions supporting and opposing it, surely you’re uncomfortable with public school teachers engaging in political advocacy with students during school time.

*Jose Muñoz, executive director of La Casa Norte, has an op-ed in Tuesday’s Sun-Times urging a vote for the referendum.

News ain’t free

I noticed this banner on a Sun-Times digital story by the paper’s City Hall reporter Fran Spielman —

— and I was thinking maybe they calculated how many hours Spielman and her editors spent on the story, multiplied by a rough hourly rate, added in the marginal cost of printing and distributing the paper and the web-hosting fees and …

So I wrote to the paper’s executive editor, Jennifer Kho, to ask about the calculation.

It’s nothing so fancy. Kho replied that, “The estimate is our total daily operating budget divided by our average number of articles.”

And that explains this ad that readers see online and in print:

Kho wrote, “We're testing different messaging to help readers understand the cost and value of our work — and to provide transparency about what they are supporting when they donate, subscribe or join Sun-Times membership.”

A fine idea. Some readers still think information should be free and this campaign is an excellent reminder that it’s not — that reporters, editors, photographers and graphic artists need to be paid and overhead needs to be covered. Advertising alone isn’t enough. Newspapers need your subscriptions to stay in business.

Yes, I continue to wish that some publications were less slippery about what they charge, but it’s incumbent on responsible citizens to support their local media.

In focus at last

At the start of the pandemic lockdown — four years ago Monday (see my second anniversary remembrance) — I began doing the Hocus Focus puzzle every day in the Sun-Times classified section. The challenge is to find six dissimilarities between two nearly identical cartoon panels, and I give myself just one minute on the timer to get as many as I can.

Sample Hocus Focus puzzle from King Features Syndicate

My goal was to have a perfect week — six out of six on all six days from Monday through Saturday (the Sun-Times does not run the puzzle on Sunday). Many weeks I came close, just missing one or two. Other weeks I failed on Monday and just had to keep plugging along, never missing a single Hocus Focus) Finally, last month, I succeeded.

I felt triumphant but, honestly, a bit empty. Now what?

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

Moon and Davis

Joanie Wimmer — In last Tuesday’s Picayune Plus you wrote, “This month, I am observing the 20th anniversary of when I lost respect for U.S. Rep. Danny Davis,” and referenced his obsequious participation in a "coronation” ceremony for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, then the leader of the controversial Unification Church.

But I do understand why Davis might have supported Moon. In the early 1970s, Moon used his celebrity to speak out against racial discrimination in this country. He urged Americans to elect a Black president, saying “We have had enough of white presidents. So, let's this time elect a president from the Negro race. What will you do if I say so?”

None other than civil rights icon Ralph Abernathy was involved with the Unification Church and protested the use of the term “Moonie,” which he compared to the n-word. I’m not a Black person, but I try, to the extent that I can, to understand why a Black person’s perspective on certain people might be different from my own. I can kind of understand Davis’s chuckling in his distinctive baritone when a white reporter tried to get him to admit that his support of Moon was a mistake.

Garry Spelled Correctly — For some real laughs, go to this page on the website of the Unification Church. It features praise and endorsements for the Moons from dead U.S Presidents who were contacted at a “Spirit World Seminar.” For example, “I, (Andrew) Jackson, am convinced that Rev. Sun Myung Moon is a prophet, Messiah, returning Lord and True Parent of humankind sent by God.”

Zorn — Jesus weighed in as well: “Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the one who came to Earth to complete my mission that was not fulfilled through the redemption of the cross. … (He) is the returning Messiah for whom you have been waiting and waiting.

As for Danny Davis, John Gorenfeld’s book “Bad Moon Rising” is now available free online, and therein you can read this:

Those were Davis’s hands, wearing white gloves to avoid defiling the embroidered pillow he carried, a crown bobbing on it, to be laid on the brow of Mrs. Moon. …. (He) got up to read a poem written by Moon at 16 composed after he saw Jesus and learned he was the Second Coming.

Gorenfeld notes that “Davis eventually agreed to sever ties with Moon.”

As for Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who is among the candidates running to unseat Davis is next week’s Democratic primary, she appears to be Bad News:

Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin fired two city employees after they warned her she was violating the city’s government ethics ordinance by using city resources to host a prayer service, according to a probe by the city’s watchdog. … Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by the two employees fired by Conyears-Ervin in November 2020. …

The two employees also alleged Conyears-Ervin used her assistant to run personal errands, including grocery shopping and planning her daughter’s birthday party. In addition, the treasurer’s former employees claimed she asked BMO Harris Bank, which does business with the city, to offer a mortgage to the owner of a West Side church who also rents space to her husband’s aldermanic office. … In December 2020, Conyears-Ervin was admonished by the Chicago Board of Ethics for using her professional social media accounts to broadcast a prayer service she led in violation of rules that prohibit city leaders from using city resources for non-official purposes.

Picayune ideology

Jospeh O’Donnell — I am among the less than 10% of your readership that identified as conservative in responding to your recent reader survey.

But when is the last time you had a story that leaned conservative? I can’t recall one right now.

Zorn — Thanks for filling out the survey and for reading. I don't know what you mean by a "conservative" article, but just last week I ripped on Stacy Davis Gates, the very progressive head of the Chicago Teachers Union, and a couple weeks back I was heavily critical of progressive mayor Brandon Johnson. And, of course, I got sideways with many of my liberal fellow travelers when I expressed caution and skepticism at the activists’ knee-jerk response to the police killing of Adam Toledo and when I cast a hairy eyeball on the prosecutions of Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman. I also was very hard on liberal prosecutor Kim Foxx for how she bungled the Jussie Smollett case. I hope those apostasies count for something!

I am admittedly and unapologetically liberal, but I try to come at each new story with fresh, skeptical eyes and not to fall into the group-think trap. The left is not always right.

And I do miss JerryB, MCN, JoeP and some of the other pesky and in some cases relentless conservatives who participated in the “Change of Subject” comment threads back in my Tribune days. They added to the conversation in often very interesting ways, but they bailed out early on the Picayune Sentinel.

From a fellow senior

Gene Christianson — I want to become a paid subscriber, but now that I've retired, my income is very limited. Any chance you offer a senior rate? Or better still, a "retired, crotchety old C-list Chicago radio personality" rate?

Zorn — Thanks for the thought, but $5-month subscription charge (or the discount rate of $50) a year is already the lowest that Substack allows writers to charge.

Tweet Madness 2024

Jay G. — You slipped a few "Dad Tweets” into the first round of your Tweet Madness tournament of champions. In general, I find them less funny than regular Tweets. You should have had a smaller Dad Joke Tweet Tournament, as these awful puns really ought to be compared against each other.

Garry Spelled Correctly — In the Tweet Madness tournament, numbers 5 and 20 through 25 were unfair, as each pairing featured very excellent tweets.

Zorn — I needed to use the (often admittedly excruciating) Dad Tweet winners to get to 64 finalists, as there aren’t enough weekly winners to fill the bracket. As for the pairings, last year I made a concerted effort to seed all the tweets by margins of victory, but that was tedious work and in the end the best tweet will win out anyway. So this year’s brackets are arranged mostly chronologically — I moved some around so that multiple winners wouldn’t have to face off against one another in early rounds.

See just below for the first round of the visual tweets tournament.

Ya gotta see these tweets!

This week begins the visual tweets element of Tweet Madness 2024. All the entries below won a previous contest or were runners-up or editors’ choice honorable mentions. Pick your favorite in each set of five. Those winners along with winners of subsequent sets will advance to the semifinal rounds. The top two winners in the semifinal rounds will be in the Final Four in the April 4 Picayune Sentinel.

ROUND 1

The Picayune Sentinel is aware that this is probably not an authentic warning sign.ion...

ROUND 2

ROUND 3

Rounds 4-7 are here.

Usage note: To me, “tweet” has become a generic term for a short post on social media.

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Tweet of the Week poll and in the Round of 64 of the written version of Tweet Madness.

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Contact

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