Whicker Apologizes

Whatever editors were asleep at the switch when Whicker wrote his column woke up and forced him to apologize this evening:

It was not my intention to do so. But it’s obvious that I miscalculated the effect the column on Jaycee Dugard, and the events that she might have missed during her captivity, had on those who read, buy and advertise in our newspaper.

For 22 1/2 years at The Register, I feel like I’ve had a good and direct relationship with our audience and I think most of the regular readers know how I go about reporting and commenting on sports.

This column appears to have disconnected that bond with at least part of our readers. For that I apologize.


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matt g
14 years ago

That’s very big of him to apologizing for disconnecting a bond with his fans, whatever the hell that means.  I take it he’s still proud of the article itself and sees nothing wrong with what he wrote?

Alex K
14 years ago

Wow.  He just apologized for readers not understanding.  Can one person be that dense?

Greg Simons
14 years ago

Craig, thank you for bringing this column to our attention.  I never would have read it if you hadn’t linked to it.  I’m sure the volume of responses Whicker and the OC Register received was notably larger because you blogged about it.

I’m not sure how sincere the apology is, but at least somebody realized the enormity of the error.

Michael
14 years ago

Well, he starts off with the non-apology apology. he apologizes for that column…that disconnected that bond. But he has a good and direct relationship with his REGULAR readers, who understand how he REALLY meant all that.

He does kind of recover by stating flat-out that he had a lapse of professionalism and begging for forgiveness.

Apology accepted.

Ben2009
14 years ago

The “apology” said: But it’s obvious that I miscalculated the effect the column on Jaycee Dugard, and the events that she might have missed during her captivity, had on those who read, buy and advertise in our newspaper.

Concerned about “those who…advertise,” huh?  Good to know where the real concern is, and what probably prompted this “apology.”

Dan Whitney
14 years ago

It’s almost worse that he trotted this out. He basically says he’s sorry that we didn’t get it or that we misinterpreted what he wrote.

Mason W.
14 years ago

I’m surprised that Whicker didn’t trot out “I’m sorry if anyone was offended” verbatim.

Jason @ IIATMS
14 years ago

Agreed with those above; it’s like the athlete who’s apology sounds like “I’m sorry I got caught”.

Craig, great job bringing this to our attention and kudos to everyone who realized the seriousness of Whicker’s error in judgement and raised their voices to make others aware.

Kickass job.  Score one for the bloggers.

YankeesfanLen
14 years ago

Jason is entirely correct.  Bloggers may be snarky and cynical and sometimes strecth a metaphor or two (present company excluded)but to turn a person’s personal tragedy at the hands of a felon for the sake of reference to propel a routine space-filler for the sake of seeming “current” goes beyond the pale and indicates an IQ somewhere in the neighborhoos less than the total of a bench player’s home run count.

Will
14 years ago

From the OC Register comments, I’d like to quote a comment that speaks for me:

 
mattie0 wrote:
***This column appears to have disconnected that bond with at least part of our readers. For that I apologize.***

Oh. But not for writing it. I see. Given your incredulous responses to people’s emails and your comments on another website today, this apology comes across as so insincere it’s almost unbelievable…*almost* because anyone lacking in humanity enough to write that column in the first place probably can’t be expected to realize why it was wrong, or to truly apologize.

And I agree with others—who could have POSSIBLY read this as an editor and okayed it for publication? Oh, she hasn’t heard about LA’s football teams, ha ha…BECAUSE SHE WAS KIDNAPPED, RAPED, ABUSED, AND TERRORIZED SINCE SHE WAS AN 11-YEAR-OLD CHILD! Part of me still can’t believe any of this was actually a real, published column in a newspaper.
9/9/2009 7:45:26 PM

Amen, mattie0, Amen. It’s an apology of sorts, but hardly the abject groveling that is truly owed to Ms. Dugard.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

What I find disturbing is that he seems to reference, as noted by many folks here, that a portion (potentially large portion) of his readership understood and appreciated his column. 

That means there are folks out there who find his take witty or informative or worthy of more than being used to wrap up the chicken bones from dinner and that bothers me more than his pathetic attempt at an apology. 

Be afraid – be very afraid.

Dave Studeman
14 years ago

I like to think the Peter Principle doesn’t apply to the Hardball Times.

Grant
14 years ago

Exception that proves the rule, obviously.

Daniel
14 years ago

Uhh, Wooden, I’m a white male in Orange County and you better not be lumping me in with Mark Whicker and his poor taste in column ideas.  I don’t get offended by much, but let’s refrain from the generalities hurled at various people groups living in certain areas.

Not all white males in Orange County would be dense enough to write something like that.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

No problem, Daniel. I’m sorry you took it that way. wink

obsessivegiantscompulsive
14 years ago

+1 for Will.

Unbelievable:

Unbelievably dense.
Unbelievably inhumane.
Unbelievably unempathetic.
Unbelievably unsympathetic.

As if that was not enough:
Worse:  unbelievably unapologetic.

And how this could have gotten through whatever sham of an editing process that they have, I’ll never know.

Really, I don’t say this often, but there should be a lot of firings for this.

Unbelievable.

fordprefect
14 years ago

It’s people (and I use this term loosely) like Whicker AND HIS EDITORS who wonder why newspapers are dying. Oh the irony.

Zaphod Beeblebrox
14 years ago

I don’t know Ford … it seemed Mostly Harmless to me.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

A white male in Orange County that has difficulty relating to a victim of rape, neglect, and child abuse? How novel.

Grant
14 years ago

Everyone here is familiar with the Peter Principle, yes? If the columnist for the OC Register is this dense and incompetent, just imagine how bad his editors must be.

Oh wait, we don’t have to. We can see the results in the publication of this column.

Sara K
14 years ago

And he doesn’t know how to use commas.  (spits on ground)

Tim Tebow
14 years ago

Hey buddy, thanks for bringing this article to our attention.  Real travesty.  I wrote the paper to express my discontent.