After Protests, South Dakota Editor's "Cocky" Column Shows Tact

By: Joe Strupp Every newspaper has its prominent, controversial issues. Whether it's The New York Times on Iraq or the San Francisco Chronicle on homelessness, they always draw mixed reactions. Then there's The Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., where a story related to pheasant hunting, of all things, drew enough concerned comments to prompt an explanatory column Sunday by Executive Editor Randell Beck.

Well, not the hunting season itself, but one line in a story last Wednesday that drew some complaints, according to Beck, who felt compelled to explain the paper's decision and defend its actions.

According to the editor, the story about a local pheasant cleaner included one controversial line. Describing T-shirts sold at Kooch's Pheasant Cleaning, writer Peter Harriman mentioned they included the slogan: "I Got My Cock Cleaned at Kooch's."

With all of the cutbacks and ethics problems surrounding newspapers today, this is what Beck apparently had to spend time writing about. Still, he appeared tactful to the "communication from a few readers -- some upset, some alarmed" that sparked his response.

"Like a glacier, slow yet relentless, crude language, bathroom humor and smutty double entendres worm their way into our culture. What's a family newspaper to do???" he writes. "Blame the Democrats, Hollywood, mainstream media or any number of insidious forces if you like. It is true, nonetheless, that our language - a few purists still might view it as the sacred and inviolate English that God gave us about the same time that he gave Moses the Ten Commandments - is under constant assault.?? Words and phrases, shaped by current fashion, change in meaning and nuance. A joke in 1920 isn't funny in the least in 2007. A simple adjective in 1895 is a slur today. Plays on certain words, catty or chic in our world today, will ring hollow a generation hence."

A bit heavy, but making the point. Finally, after a few more stalling words about newspapers and offensiveness, Beck got to the point, repeated the questionable phrase, then went on to defend it.

"Now, anyone will tell you I'm not a guy who salts his every day language with sophomoric puns about body parts, but I get the joke," Beck wrote. "And unless you live in a convent, probably you do, too. The response from a few readers was fast and loud.??"

He noted that, among the comments received were those that said, "I had no idea you had sixth graders working for you" and another describing the reference as "pretty tacky and not in keeping with the Argus Leader's high standards.''

But Beck stood his ground, declaring, "While I did not personally approve Harriman's use of the T-shirt logo in his column, a trusted and experienced editor did. I agree with her call. While we might find it distasteful, the T-shirt logo says something about those selling it and those buying it. Maybe that thing is funny or crass. At any rate, there it is.

"Is a newspaper a mirror or a fortress of civility? Maybe a little of both. Shakespeare, perhaps the great genius of English writers, was notorious for loading up his plays and sonnets with sexual innuendo or oblique references to private parts of the human anatomy," Beck wrote. "I believe old Bill's still being read in a few schools."