Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Obama Headline: Offensive or Too Much PC?

The Star Tribune of Minneapolis had a little problem with a headline it used on a story about Obama. Beth Walton of citypages.com describes it as such:

Last Thursday, Star Tribune reporter Mark Brunswick rushed from the state capitol to the Copper Dome restaurant in St. Paul to catch presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as he ordered a three-dollar pancake breakfast to go.

For a story about little more than flour, Brunswick's piece wasn't that bad. Too bad the headline—"Guess who's coming for breakfast: Obama in St. Paul"—ruined it all.


But it seems the public just wasn't ready to be reminded that Obama is, indeed, black. In no time at all, the entire internet had unleashed its fury. Brunswick got e-mails about the piece saying it was demeaning and wrong. The headline was later changed and appeared online and in print as the blander: "Obama in St. Paul: Silk stockings and buttermilk pancakes."


What do you think, should the paper changed its headline? Is it truly offensive?

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