PressEthic

The press walks a fine line between reporting the news and broadcasting agendas of hatred. Never is this more evident than in the case of Fred Phelps and his hateful band of followers who have created a buzz around the country with their provocative act.

Proclaiming that homosexuals will spend an enternity in Hell, Phelps leads an extremist Christian group and has created a stir by protesting funerals around America. Recently, his group protested funerals of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq.

Last week, Phelps planned to picket the funerals of the young Amish girls killed in Pennsylvania but stopped when a radio show host gave his group an hour of air time.

Jacques Steinberg reports in The New York Times: "Some representatives of the group, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, have contended that the Amish community bears some responsibility for the girls’ deaths as a consequence of its religious practices."

Not merely satisfied with the Amish tragedy, "The group said it was also seeking to draw attention to its dispute with Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, who signed legislation this year barring pickets near funerals, a response to the church’s efforts to protest near the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq. The group said the military deaths were a result of God’s disappointment with "the sins of America.'"

While it is an essential part of the press' journalistic duty to report on groups like Phelps' sect -- regardless of his disturbing views -- when does the press cross the line and give a voice to hatemongers? In doing so, there is a danger to legitimize these radicals. Phelps stages the protests in part for religious beliefs. But like many others of his ilk another essential part is attention.

"The Lord your God is ramping up the issues, is smiting this nation," Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church representative and a daughter of Mr. Phelps, told listeners of 'The Mike Gallagher Show,' in reference to the shootings in Lancaster County. "What he did with one stroke on that day, sending a pervert in — because America is a nation of perverts — it’s appropriate he sent a pervert in to shoot those children. The Amish people were laid to an open shame because they are a false religion," Steinberg wrote.

The paragraph powerfully delivers the hate that spews from the group, but, at the same time, it gives them a medium to disseminate thier message. Perhaps the reader needs to see Phelps' group for all that they are. In a world of Holocaust deniers, however, haven't they already read this story?