Escalation

Journal News To List More Gun Permit Holders After Uproar [More]

If the Journal News really wants to escalate like this, and if retaliatory publication of management and staff addresses has not worked, and if their intent is to expand their efforts, then it's time to do the same.

Who are their big advertisers?  They're the ones who are giving the Journal News the resources to do this, are in effect giving aid and comfort to the enemy. By default, they have become legitimate targets in this cold war the paper started, just as surely as supply convoys would be in a hot one.

Contact them and let them know if they don't cut off the funds, they will have chosen their side, and will be subject to the same tactics those they're enabling are using. Ask them if they think such publicized actions may have a deterrent effect on potential customers, and if that might give a competitive edge to rival dealerships. And don't accept the excuse that there's a contract -- by their own actions, the Journal News will have invalidated that by creating a situation that produces the exact opposite of what their advertising program promises  -- driving customers away instead of bringing them in.


That's the kind of revenue loss that could really cripple a newspaper in today's economy, and since the parent corporation Gannett is no friend and could have put the brakes on this at any time, there's no reason why this tactic shouldn't spread to all of their holdings.

Or do nothing and watch this gun owner outing spread to other newspapers, emboldened by the simple observation that they'll be allowed to get away with it by the very people they're attacking.