Opinion

Don't use fear to sell the paper

Posted March 28, 2009 11:00 pm

I have received your paper for about 15 years and reading it each morning while I have breakfast is part of my morning routine. Your headline on Tuesday, March 3 ruined my appetite.

At a time when calm, optimism and frugality should be our watch words, your paper screamed inaccuracy and panic. Just as yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is unlawful, so employing the word "depression" reeks of sensationalism. The disclaimer caption beneath the photo did little to dispel the notion.

What purpose did that headline serve except as a device to sell more newspapers?

Could your point not have been made in an equally informative way without the alarm?

Most adults are fully aware of the frightening drop in the stock market and many have stood in lines hoping for a job. As the article states, let's give this recession a chance to self-correct before yelling "fire".

Lynn Brownback

Palatine

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