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Policy corner: Matters of taste

In the same way that you know pornography when you see it, newspaper editors have a good feel for where the line is between good taste and bad.

Don't judge us by how we dress. This isn't about that kind of taste but rather about what readers of the newspaper - or the website - would find acceptable to read or look at.

We look at every photo, every paragraph, every quotation, every headline to see if it passes our smell test.

We cover the news, but we do our best not to sensationalize tragedy. You won't see photos of dead people or even portions of dead people. In only the rarest of cases will you see a photo of a body covered by a sheet.

We did that while investigators were carting out body after body from John Wayne Gacy's crawl space. The sheer number of Gacy's victims was central to the story, and those photos told the story well.

I've said no to many amazing photos of traffic accidents where someone is gravely injured - out of sensitivity to the injured person as well as our readers.

When covering court cases, we give you enough of the testimony to tell the story without delving into the more sordid details that most people would find repugnant.

We are mindful of coarse language and avoid it in almost all cases. When someone has a question about whether we can use a certain word or phrase, I am consulted. And I need a very good reason to say yes.

For a general interest newspaper such as ours, we need to take into account the various age groups and sensibilities of the people who rely on us.

Just because I enjoy a steady stream of R-rated movies doesn't mean my readers would be accepting of all that comes with that.

We won't hide news from you, but we try to give it to you in a way that doesn't make you stop reading.

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