No Joke: No Snakes p. 9

By: M.L. Stein

Alameda Newspaper Group bans photos of snakes; editor says
readers do not want to see such photos with their breakfast sp.

THE ALAMEDA NEWSPAPER Group in California will not publish photos of snakes "until a snake actually holds up a bank, is nominated for a Cabinet post or wins the Super Lotto."
This notice was e-mailed to staffers at ANG's five dailies in the San Francisco East Bay area by executive editor Charles Cooper, who doesn't believe that readers want snake photos with their breakfast.
Although wrapping his memo in humorous language, the editor warned, "This is not a joke. Please point out this policy to anyone you might see unknowingly dummying or cropping or selecting such a photograph so that everyone will conform."
Issued as a "Proclamation," it declares:
"Whereas photographs containing images of snakes make some people incredibly anxious, distressed, nervous and frightened;
"Whereas we don't want to unnecessarily shock, offend, upset or frighten any of our readers:
"Whereas there are more than enough other photographs to put into our newspapers . . . . "
This was followed by the "Be it there resolved" part, which dealt with the bank holdup and other exceptions.
"There must be more of a reason to run a photograph of a snake than the fact that someone thinks it's cute," the resolution declared.
The memo, the editor said, was precipitated by a recent photo in the papers of a boy with a pet snake wrapped around his face.
There was no story with the photo.
"This reminded me about something I had been meaning to do," Cooper added.
"Editors should think before they run such pictures."
Cooper said he's not crazy about snakes, noting, "I grew up in West Texas, where there are plenty of snakes."
Nor is ANG editor in chief David Burgin fond of the slithering creatures, he added.
Cooper said he did not consult Burgin before writing the note "because we think pretty much alike on the matter."
No question about that. Burgin confided that he doesn't even like the word "snake," preferring to say "the S word."
Burgin, who directs the Oakland Tribune and four other California papers, used to work in Florida, which also has more than its share of "S words."
"There are millions of them there," Burgin related, his disgust apparent. "They crawl inside houses and onto radiators and other warm places."
In fact, Burgin said, he once wrote a similar memo banning "gratuitous" usage of snake photos when he was editor of the Orlando Sentinel.
In Florida, he said, he ran over a snake with his car and immediately bought four new tires.
Burgin also recalled that he once signed up for a six-week Stanford University course to cure his snake phobia but quit after the third weekly session, when the instructor brought in a live snake.
"He just talked about the 'S' then, but I knew that I would have to wind up wearing it at some point in the course," Burgin said.
He added that he was in total accord with Cooper's observation in the directive that a snake photo "when viewed at the breakfast table, or any other reading situation, instantly turns off some readers and frightens others.
"We won't take that chance unless there's a real strong reason to."