PressEthic

Philadelphia Magazine’s most recent front cover story on a surge of murders in the city (and it’s accompanying graphic) has hotel managers concerned over how it will portray Philadelphia to visitors, and Ed Grose, executive director of the Hotel Association has asked managers to refrain from outfitting their guest rooms with the issue.

Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Michael Currie Schaffer, who reported this story, described the cover as a “significant departure from the usual cheerful celebrations of regional life. Instead, it depicts a single handgun against a spare blue-gray backdrop. The text reads: Murder. One terrifying night on the streets - and why everything we're doing to stop the shooting won't work.”

Schaffer also reported:

“Ordinarily, some 6,000 complimentary copies of the glossy monthly are distributed in local hotel rooms. But Grose's message argued that the magazine made the city look unsafe for the visitors who flock to those rooms. He also slammed the magazine for not mentioning on its cover that homicides were concentrated in neighborhoods far from most hotels. (Only 3 of the 295 killings through the end of September took place in Center City.)

‘I recommend that you review your position on what effect this article and cover will have on your guests who are staying in your guestrooms,’ he wrote. ‘I feel that sensationalizing the murder rate in our city will have a negative effect on our customers.’”

Larry Pratt, editor of Philadelphia Magazine refuted Grose's accusation of sensationalizing the story by arguing that both the city and the press need to confront the problem of violence, regardless of geographical specifics. With all the brouhaha over the issue, some hotel managers have already decided that it’s in their best interest to not carry the magazine.

Schaffer reported:

“‘It would be seriously alarming to our guests,’ said Valerie Ferguson, regional vice president and managing director of the 583-room Loews Hotel. ‘We're a very safe neighborhood, a very friendly Center City neighborhood, and we want our guests to enjoy what they currently are enjoying.’

‘Think of what a hotel room looks like, which is supposed to be warm and comforting,’ said Ruth Hirshey, director of public relations at the 364-room Four Seasons Hotel. ‘That on the table doesn't project what we want to project about the city.’”

I understand that we are talking about free issues handed out to hotel guests, and that this dispute could easily be resolved by the discretion of hotel managers, who can either leave the issues out for guests, or not.

But I think that it's a shame for this debate to have been turned into accusations of sensationalism and bias. The magazine has the freedom and (as most would argue) the responsibility to report the important issues facing the city. If a guest cares enough to pick up the issue and read up a little on the city he or she is visiting, can't we assume that they care enough to know what is really going on there?