As of March 12, eight newspapers have dropped right-wing pundit Ann Coulter's column after remarks Coulter made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where she referred to Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (NC) as a “faggot.” On March 8, Media Matters for America published a list of daily newspapers that carried Coulter's column at the time she made her controversial remarks -- as well as the email addresses of the editors of those papers -- and suggested that readers contact the editors to discuss their papers' decisions to carry Coulter's column.
The eighth paper, the Herald & Review of Decatur, Illinois, announced its decision in a March 11 column, in which Herald & Review editor Gary Sawyer cited Coulter's CPAC comments and asserted:
Most of you will think that we're dropping her column in response to that comment. Some will undoubtedly believe that we're caving in to liberals, who have launched what appears to be a national campaign to get newspapers to dump Coulter's column. Others are probably praising us for finally seeing what's wrong with Coulter's column.
Whatever group you find yourself in, you're partially right.
Sawyer further wrote that “questioning someone's sexual orientation in such a vile way goes beyond reasonable comment,” adding that “Coulter's column has become a one note symphony.” Sawyer also claimed that Coulter “seems to adore the public spotlight a little too much.”
As Media Matters has previously noted, seven other newspapers have dropped Coulter's column since her remarks to CPAC, including:
- The Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania)
- The Oakland Press (Michigan)
- The Mountain Press (Sevierville, Tennessee)
- The Sanford Herald (North Carolina)
- The Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Illinois)
- The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana)
- American Press (Lake Charles, Louisiana)
A July 2, 2006, New York Post article about allegations of plagiarism in Coulter's last book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum, July 2006), reported that her column “is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers.” The following is an updated version of the list Media Matters published on March 8 that takes into account newspapers that have dropped Coulter in the wake of her CPAC comments:
Newspaper
State
Editor
Contact
(Palmdale) Antelope Valley Press
CA
Jana Treece
Pasadena Star-News
CA
Steve O'Sullivan
(West Covina) San Gabriel Valley Tribune
CA
Steve Scauzillo
Whittier Daily News
CA
Linda Beckman
(Yreka) Siskiyou Daily News
CA
Jean Smith
(Jacksonville) The Florida Times-Union
FL
Patrick A. Yack
The St. Augustine Record
FL
Jim Sutton
The Villages Daily Sun
FL
Larry Croom
larry.croom@
thevillagesmedia.com
(Canton) Cherokee Tribune
GA
Barbara Jacoby
Marietta Daily Journal
GA
Joe Kirby
(Twin Falls) Times-News
ID
David Cooper
(Bloomington) Pantagraph
IL
Bill Wills
(Carbondale) The Southern Illinoisian
IL
James Bennett
(Joliet) The Herald News
IL
Bill Wimbiscus
(Springfield) The State Journal-Register
IL
Mike Matulis
(Gary) The Post-Tribune
IN
Paulette Haddix
(Warsaw) Times-Union
IN
Gary Gerard
Bastrop Daily Enterprise
LA
Mark Rainwater
mrainwater@
bastropenterprise.com
(Jackson) The Clarion Ledger
MS
David Hampton
(Lumberton) The Robesonian
NC
Donnie Douglas
(Gallup) Independent
NM
Darrel Beehner
Elko Daily Free Press
NV
Jeffry Mullins
Las Vegas Review-
Journal
NV
John Kerr
Lancaster Eagle-
Gazette
OH
Antionette Taylor-Thomas
(Mansfield) News Journal
OH
Carl Hunnell
The Lawton Constitution
OK
David Hale
(Greensburg) Pittsburgh Tribune-
Review
PA
Colin McNickle
(Uniontown) Herald-
Standard
PA
Paul Sunyak
(Wilkes-
Barre) Times-
Leader
PA
Jean LaCoe
The Denton Record-
Chronicle
TX
Mike Trimble
Marshall News Messenger
TX
Phil Latham
(New Braunfels) Herald-
Zeitung
TX
Douglas Toney
Plainview Daily Herald
TX
Kevin Lewis
1kevin@
plainviewdailyherald.com
Waco Tribune-Herald
TX
John Young
(Harrisonburg) Daily News-
Record
VA
Peter Yates
(St. Johnsbury) The Caledonian- Record
VT
Dana Gray
Watertown Daily Times
WI
John McFadden
(West Bend) Daily News
WI
Jill Badzinski
Casper Star-Tribune
WY
Clark Walworth
clark.walworth@
casperstartribune.net
Correction: This item originally listed The Quad-City Times as one of the newspapers publishing Coulter's column based on a link to Coulter's column that appeared on the newspaper's website. However, the Times subsequently informed Media Matters that the paper has never printed Coulter's column.