Ann Coulter booted from the Arizona Daily Star. Thank them.

[roguevalley]

(Small steps forward)

http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/opinion/90500.php

More words. More letters. No more Ann Coulter.

Since my arrival here nine weeks ago, we've been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work aimed at making the Arizona Daily Star a better newspaper. Today, we unveil some visible changes to your Opinion pages. More changes will come here and throughout the paper over the coming weeks and months.

First, the highlights of changes to the Opinion pages. Then a little about the process we're using to arrive at our plans. When I first wrote to you as I assumed my duties here, I invited your comments about the paper. Of an estimated 300 e-mails and letters, I'd guess one third or so have dealt with some aspect of the Opinion pages and a recent redesign. Very few said you loved it. Some of you said you could leave it.

SNIP!

Beginning today, we're shifting the balance back toward more words. We'll still have photos and cartoons, but they will consistently run smaller. No more full-body photos of the letter-writer of the week or of people who contribute to our weekly highlights from local blogs.

SNIP!

Finally, we've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives. Taking her place on Saturdays will be Tony Snow, host of "The Tony Snow Show," syndicated nationally on Fox News Radio, and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on Fox News Channel. He has worked at a number of daily newspapers and is a former speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush.

At all times, we welcome your feedback. You can write to me at the address below (or you'll find me listed every day on Page A2 of the paper). You'll also find Debbie's contact information there each day or with her regular Sunday column (on page H3 today).

Please let us know what you think.

David Stoeffler is publisher and editor of the Star. Contact him at [e-mail] or at P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726.

[returnable]

1. Thank them for what?

Replacing one right wing shill with another?

Thanks, but no thanks...

[roguevalley]

5. thank them for getting rid of her and suggest progressives. you

don't move forward if you don't try.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

32. Installing Phony Show gets you nothing

but a prettier package and a smaller dick.

Ptooey.

[napi21]

33. Tony is still a Pub, but he's nowhere near as band as Ann!

I don't live in Az. so I guess I shouldn't have an opinion, but anywhere Ann gets the boot is a good day in America!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

34. I strongly disagree.

Mann's effectiveness is limited by herm, shis...it's ( :think: ) vitriol.

Phony's effectiveness is more "presentable" and therefore more insidious.

Same thing. Different results. That's the whole reason for Coulter's being: shine a spotlight on the absurd so that more presentable, yet equally absurd and evil, viewpoints appear mainstream.

[Sequoia]

2. Best news of the day!

[Der Blaue Engel]

3. I feel so proud when my hometown does something good

:)

[FrankChurch]

4. Everybody deserves freedom of speech--even Ann.

I don't like censorship of any stripe. Ann is bile, but she deserves her rights, hard as that is to spit out from my summer scorned lips.

If we do not defend the speech we hate, then there is no freedom for us. It goes both ways. Usually to cudgel the left into little broken pieces.

[autorank]

7. Frank Church...from Idaho? Welcome to DU!!!

Great Democratic name.

Yeah, she gets free speech as do all Americans but the AZ republic just doesn't want to pay her for it. I don't blame them.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Enlighten the furrinah please? That reference flew miles over my head. -nt

[havocmom]

21. um, it was the Az Daily Star (Tucson) that tossed her off Op/Ed page

Don't know about the Repbulic (that bigger town to the northwest of Tucson)

[blondeatlast]

29. I only wish it were the aptly named Republic (formerly--this is true--

Republican).

Instead it is the much, much more moderate Arizona Daily Star from Tucson.

Come to think of it, though, the Rpublic doesn't carry coulter, but we do get Malkin and Katleen Parker, the mouthpiece of the Heritage Foundation.

[MadeinOhio]

9. I don't mean to be cynical....

But protecting hate speech on the radio and threats against people such as Michael Moore promotes extremism and fuels insurgency.

Its not only neccesary to shut down this kind of hate speech, its a constitutional duty. Such rhetoric can be as harmful to the United States as Karl Rove or someone like Bill Richardson voting for CAFTA.

I don't even like the Arizona paper or read it, but I agree with keeping Ann Coulter off the air. And same goes for Rush Limbaugh if he has nothing but hate to spew.

[magnetism]

18. I may not like Ann OR Tony but...

what insurgency is her speech fueling besides ours?

[MadeinOhio]

24. Easily extremism against muslims, liberals, any groups she deems a threat.

And this to me is the most serious pact of unregulated hate speech, it can have damaging effects on security. If people like Pat Robertson and the Jerry Falwell conservatives hear Ann Coulter, they immediately start thinking of assassination.

Kill the abortion clinics, the leaders of muslim nations and anyone else they deem responsible for the terror attacks. This can easily be viewed as extremism and fueling of hate against other nations.

[magnetism]

26. using your logic

should books such as Checkpoint be pulled from the shelves since the words contained within may fuel extremism? The book was actually an interesting read, but would you move to censor it?

[roguevalley]

22. she can spew anywhere. she just doesn't get paid for it at this newspaper

[complain jane]

10. Freedom of speech doesn't mean she has a right to

have her column published by a paper that doesn't want her.

She's not being censored, she can still say anything she wants.

Does freedom of speech mean that I have the *right* to have a column published in some right-wing rag?

[Bark Bark Bark]

12. No censorship here

I don't have a column in a paper, but I'm not being censored.

I've seen newspapers drop popular columnists after they criticize a particular politician. (Deb Price comes to mind, abruptly dropped from a major San Francisco fishwrap after knocking a neo-con pol. Bush? Quayle? Too long, I forget.) THAT's censorship.

Dropping Coulter's no different than ditching, say, "Heathcliff;" never insightful and no longer funny even on a kitsch level, people just want it to go away. Still free to simper and fart on a street corner, though.

[sdfernando]

14. 1st Amendment

I agree that mAnn Coulter has just as much right to spew her vile opinion pieces as anyone. However, I don't see the issue of a paper dropping her as an infringment on her 1st amendment rights. As related in the above article, the newspaper is responding to their readers wishes. They are, after all the ones who pay the bills. Ann still has plenty of outlets to sling her sh*t from. However, I think if she continues on her course, she will eventually be relegated to the fringes of the conservative movement and then become irrelevant. (One can dream can't they???)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. The paper is a private company. They can fire whoever the hell they like.

So says Peter Parker.

[China_cat]

17. Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee you an audience.

[havocmom]

19. She can speak freely just like you and I but the Op/Ed page has limited

space and she is a waste of it. Also, if a liberal writer were to write things suggesting taking baseball bats to people who held views contrary to theirs, just how many column inches would they get? My guess is there would be charges filed if a liberal made the suggestions and threats Ms Coulter has made.

She can speak all she wants, but newspapers have no obligation to pay her for her insane ramblings.

[northernsoul]

20. That's not censorship

The first amendment protects us from government interference in our expressive conduct. The newspaper is not the government and has no obligation to provide anyone with a forum, just like DU don't have to allow the Freepers to use this forum to vent their toxins. Ann Coulter is not constitutionally entitled to be published by anyone. Neither are you or I for what it's worth.

[mandyky]

25. Free speech and a weekly spot are 2 different mammals

Ms. Coulter still has her right to free speech. The newspaper has the right to cancel someone readers complain about, too. And they are replacing her with another conservative, so I don't see how anyone can complain.

[sepia_steel]

27. The newpaper isn't limiting her free speech

they're giving their paying customers what they want.


Thank you.

[TheFarseer]

31. no one has the right to be syndicated in a newspaper

The newspaper has the 'right' to not publish her if they so choose.

[OneTwentyoNine]

35. What are you talking about?? This isn't a case of "free speech"...

Their shit canning that piece of shit because the PAYING CUSTOMERS don't want her column anymore,she's paid to do those articles,she just got FIRED.

Where do you think that rags free speech was violated??

[autorank]

6. haha...nobody likes her. Wonder why?

My favorite line: "Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives."

Sounds like she was "difficult to work with."

ABC=anything but coulter...hey, if they need a RW hack, Tony Snow will do. Nobody believes him anyway.

[FrankChurch]

8. I was putting up a thought balloon.

You pierced it rather nicely, thank you. lol.

[autorank]

11. Quick inhale! She should have free speech. I think she'd be a

good "streed" preacher, you know on a crate yelling at people as they pass by. She could do it DC...or better yet, it could be the "Anne Coulter Street Preacher Tour"...coming to an area near you.

[cobaindrain]

13. and replaced by Tony Snow

Heaven forbid they have a moderate, or even a liberal replace Ann.

[MeatLoafZero]

36. If they're anything like my

local paper, they just run the Conservative columns once a week. We get Michelle Malkin every Wednesday, and that's it.

[havocmom]

23. Great news! I didn't read the Star online today, which is rare

They have been getting all sorts of letters complaining about dear Ann. Many complaints about the paper using a lot of graphics to take up space and not as many actual columns. Tucson is a lively place. People ther want their Op/Ed page to actually have content

Yea 'Baked Apple'! :thumbsup:

[Booster]

28. "Thank you" emailed them for trying to move our country in a

better direction. Tony Snow is probably just as bad, but I think Ann's had her 15 minutes of fame with no talent.

[TheFarseer]

30. Tony Snow is worse

at least Ann Coulter is OBVIOUSLY crazy. If I wanted Tony Snow's opinion, I'd beat it out of Sean Hanitty.