Universal Executive Responds to 'E&P' Column on Ann Coulter

By: Lee Salem E&P Senior Editor Dave Astor's June 23 column criticized Universal Press Syndicate writer Ann Coulter for her charged commentary (especially her jokes about "killing" people). Below is a response to Astor's column from Lee Salem, the editor of Universal who will become the syndicate's president on July 1, and Astor's response:

***

Where is the line? That was the question posed to Universal Press Syndicate recently by Editor & Publisher. How far does Ann Coulter, in particular, have to go before our syndicate decides to pull the plug?

This question was asked another way in Dave Astor's June 23 commentary that ran on E&P Online and TheBookStandard.com. Astor is the respected senior editor and reporter who covers the syndicate beat for E&P.

In a column titled "Enabling Ann Coulter," Astor chides Universal Press for offering her columns, and he even wags his finger at her newspaper clients for carrying them.

He's upset that Ann Coulter has yet to pay a "price" for her comments about 9/11 widows. Ted Rall, Astor writes, "paid a price" for criticizing 9/11 widows back in 2002, but not Ann. Yet Astor never wrote an editorial criticizing us for standing behind Ted Rall four years ago. Nor has Astor ever reprimanded us for standing behind Rall's subsequent Pat Tillman cartoons, which many found offensive.

Astor goes on to mention "The Boondocks" and how Aaron McGruder's "pointed commentary" is not the same as Ann Coulter's. Tell that to Aaron's editor, who's gotten thousands of angry e-mails and phone calls from readers demanding that we stop carrying "that bigoted Bush-basher."

Nor does Astor mention that we've stood behind Garry Trudeau and Lynn Johnston, who have also angered readers who didn't like what they had to say.

All of these creators write for a readership -- their readers. And if you're not part of that particular readership, you are not going to like what is said.

In the wide range of features that we distribute every day, there's probably not much overlap between the readers who crave "Doonesbury" or "The Boondocks," for instance, and the readers who crave Ann Coulter. But we value the diversity of opinions that our creators offer, and we pride ourselves on making that diversity available to newspaper readers.

As for Astor's comment that Ann's writing might possibly "inspire some nut to murder one of her many column targets" and that she writes "murderous fantasies," Ann Coulter writes highly charged political commentary that's laced with trenchant satire -- satire that can be traced all the way back to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," written in 1729. No one really believed that Swift was seriously advocating that the impoverished Irish relieve themselves of the burden of their children by feeding them to the rich.

Ann's hyperbolic style of delivery delights her conservative audience, much to the displeasure of liberals. Her columns do contain serious points, but they also contain satirical comments and jokes that her readers appreciate. Also, many of Ann's controversial comments have occurred outside the scope of her column -- on TV talk shows and in speeches.

Ann Coulter has an audience that likes her work. And we will support her just as we've supported our other writers and artists -- whatever their political persuasion.

E&P raises a valuable question, "Is there a line?," and it is one that syndicates, newspaper editors, and Editor & Publisher might well want to discuss more formally. But there is a corollary question that should be discussed at the same time. If there is to be a line, who draws it? You? Me? Or the readers who ultimately decide what and who they want to read?


***

Dave Astor responds:

All but one paragraph of Lee Salem's commentary ignores the main point of my column -- that the biggest problem I have with Coulter is her constant "joking" about killing people, not her conservatism. Ted Rall, Aaron McGruder, Garry Trudeau, and Lynn Johnston don't constantly "joke" about killing people in their syndicated features.

Yes, Jonathan Swift did write "A Modest Proposal." It was a masterpiece. But if he continued to write stories every few weeks about killing people, readers might have begun to think he was halfway, or very, serious about it.

And is it "trenchant satire" on Coulter's part to make references to killing Congressman John Murtha, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, New York Times staffers, Arabs, and Muslims? Sounds like crude invective to me.

In a just-published New York Observer article, interviewer George Gurley relates that he recently told Coulter that some critics don't think she really believes what she says. Coulter replied: "Yes, liberals would like to think that -- as the entire country turns my way. Let them comfort themselves with that little fantasy."

***

Recent Related E&P Stories:

Coulter: During WWII, 'Traitor' Who Criticized Bush Might Have Been Shot

Springsteen Mocks Ann Coulter, TV Pundits