On Thursday morning in Charleston, South Carolina, readers of the local paper woke up to read about the tragic shooting that took place the night before with Dylann Roof then still on the run. “Church attack kills 9” read the headline of The Charleston Post and Courier, which, unfortunately, was obscured by a sticker ad for none other than a gun shop and shooting range.
Detail of Jonathan Neufeld Twitter photo.
“The front-page sticky note that was attached to some home delivery newspapers on the same day as this tragedy is a deeply regrettable coincidence,” the Post and Courier said in a statement. “We apologize to those who were offended.” “It was just unfortunate timing. The ad had already been scheduled,” a manager in the paper’s ad department told Romenesko. Whether it was simply unfortunate timing or a colossal error of judgment or just an oversight, as the Washington Post points out, the image sums up America’s fraught relationship with guns.
