Don’t Glorify the Taggers
The writing is on the wall, and our schoolrooms, buses, walls . . . a plague of graffiti. And The Times got caught in the paint!
I’m the first one to applaud telling all sides of a story, but mature judgment should play a part when media exposure is the result. Your recent story on graffiti vandals spread instant fame--in full color--to six young people who can now claim: “See I’m famous because I’m a tagger.”
A kid gets shot on a high school campus and you make a decision that amounts to glorifying the kind of kid who mowed him down.
No, I’m not calling all taggers murderers. I am saying responsible media decisions are desperately needed in our violent world.
You goofed.
JOY PICUS
Los Angeles Councilwoman
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