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FROM THE EDITOR
To Our Readers:
BY JIM MULLIN
First an apology, then an explanation.
We deeply regret having provoked the community outrage that has been so forcefully expressed in response to last week’s cover story, “Meth Made Easy.” From throughout SLO County we received hundreds of angry letters and phone calls. Quite a number of you went to the trouble of visiting our office to voice your feelings in person.
Many faithful readers vowed never to pick up New Times again. Businesses that for years served as distribution points told us they no longer want the paper in their stores. Other businesses withdrew advertising. Some people vowed to launch a boycott of those advertisers who remain. Certain individuals took it upon themselves to confiscate copies of the paper — many thousands of copies.
The message was as clear as it was consistent: The publication of “Meth Made Easy” strained to the breaking point a trust that had steadily developed over two decades. Trust is a precious and delicate commodity, and it is essential to the relationship between a community and any newspaper that would hope to serve it. Needless to say, we would never intentionally place that trust in jeopardy, just as we would never intentionally seek to harm the very community to which we belong.
The negative reaction to “Meth Made Easy” carried another, implicit, message: Thousands of people in San Luis Obispo County feel they have a stake in New Times, a personal investment strong enough to trigger immediate action. Simply dismissing a perceived transgression isn’t enough; such an affront demands direct communication with those of us responsible for producing the paper each week. It’s a sad irony that this loyalty to New Times would manifest itself under these circumstances. (Unfortunately the overwhelming volume of calls and letters prevents us from responding personally to each one.)
As editor I take full responsibility for publication of “Meth Made Easy,” but I know I speak for the entire New Times staff in offering a sincere apology for the sense of betrayal felt by so many readers.
Now for an explanation, one that aims to answer the question asked repeatedly in the letters below: What were we thinking?
The impetus for exploring the methamphetamine phenomenon was the January 5 bust of a meth lab in Paso Robles. We noted the incident in a brief story the following week, but a larger question lingered: Despite the well-publicized dangers of meth, law enforcement agencies continually arrest people for making it and using it. In fact, those arrests have become so common they barely register on the radar of the Central Coast’s media. But what did we really know about those “laboratories”? Why were they so dangerous? What was actually going on inside?
http://www.newtimesslo.com/index.php?p=showarticle&id=1599
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