Parker MolloyJan 16, 2023

My latest newsletter: Maine's Bangor Daily News prints a heavily-edited version of #MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Here's what they left out: https://www.readtpa.com/p/mlk-i-have-a-dream-speech-edit?sd=pf

Newspaper Prints Heavily-Edited, Sanitized Version of MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Apologizes

And you wonder why so many people believe the speech's key takeaway is that we should all just judge people by "the content of their character," rather than address the specific concerns laid out.

The Present Age
Show threadParker MolloyJan 16, 2023

Additionally...

Here's what that paper ran on the day of King's speech...

https://www.readtpa.com/p/mlk-i-have-a-dream-speech-edit

Newspaper Prints Heavily-Edited, Sanitized Version of MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Apologizes

And you wonder why so many people believe the speech's key takeaway is that we should all just judge people by "the content of their character," rather than address the specific concerns laid out.

The Present Age
Show threadParker Molloy

And finally, this is something the paper has published before. I found a link to a 2020 article that was word-for-word the same, right down to the "we should take a step away from our divisive politics" line, with the only difference being that it said "As we mark the "91st birthday" instead of "94th birthday."

https://www.readtpa.com/p/mlk-i-have-a-dream-speech-edit

Newspaper Prints Heavily-Edited, Sanitized Version of MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech, Apologizes

And you wonder why so many people believe the speech's key takeaway is that we should all just judge people by "the content of their character," rather than address the specific concerns laid out.

The Present Age
Jan 16, 2023 at 9:09pmWeb
Show threadNorth Easton Jan 16, 2023
@parkermolloy Huh. It's like an Onion article. Same stuff, different day.
Show threadDan KennedyJan 16, 2023
@parkermolloy Sounds like they just pull it out of their files every year and run it without thinking about it. What will really be interesting is to see what they do next year now that they've been called out.
Show threadDan KennedyJan 16, 2023

@parkermolloy From Wikipedia: The Bangor Daily News "has been owned by the Towle-Warren family for four generations; current publisher Richard J. Warren is the great-grandson of J. Norman Towle, who bought the paper in 1895. Since 2018, it has been the only independently owned daily newspaper in the state."

Depends on your definition of "independent." The rest, anchored by the Portland Press Herald, are owned by Reade Brower, a Maine printer, not by an out-of-state chain.

Show threadParker MolloyJan 16, 2023
@dankennedy_nu Yeah. I was thinking about how the hollowing out of newspaper staffs and whatnot might lead to a world where papers lean into templates for holidays and other annual type/repeating events.
Show threadDan KennedyJan 16, 2023
@parkermolloy The Maine papers are in pretty good shape. This is just old-school laziness, not a symptom of the local news crisis.
Show threadParker MolloyJan 16, 2023
@dankennedy_nu I think I'm going to set a reminder for myself to see what they do next year, mostly just out of curiosity.
Show threadJoe Beehammer (🐝 🔨)Jan 17, 2023
@parkermolloy "step away from divisiveness and unify with the racists!"
Sure, jan
Show threadMBJan 17, 2023
@parkermolloy I live in Maine, but I don’t have a subscription to them. Someone else did say in comments last night that they did it the last 3 years in a row. Over on twitter.