Last week 3 employees of the Orlando Weekly, a local cultural and “alt-press” publication, were arrested by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation for allegedly selling ad space in their paper to prostitutes, specifically “aiding and abetting prostitution” as the charges were laid out.
Their response? This excuse for journalism. Here’s the deal guys. You got caught knowingly taking money and placing ads supporting a blatant criminal activity. The response of a 2 year old is to say, “but other kids were doing it to” and begin to point fingers around the room. The next step of an immature child being confronted with wrongdoing is to start bawling and say, “you hate me, you’re just being mean.” Guess what guys. That whole article, yeah, it was like listening to a 2 year old caught doing something wrong and acting like 100% a big fricken baby. Grow up and take your punishment like a man.
And freedom of the press arguments? Uh, that’s lame. Freedom of the press doesn’t give you license to profit from criminal activities. It just doesn’t. I’ve been plenty critical of police organizations for various issues. But you know what? If I was running ads for crack cocaine alongside those articles and the hammer comes down, well, I would deserve it.
