Can't win for losin'

I made my very first post at IdahoFallsToday.com at the request of a friend. I thought that since I was doing a show with Post Register Publisher Roger Plowthow to talk about formidable challenges facing the newspaper industry, I would post about that. Without any sense of malice or attempt to sensationalize I half-thinkingly authored the headline "Is the Post Register dying?"

Roger Plowthow saw the post and was clearly not happy about the word "dying" in the headline. He commented on the post expressing his disappointment. I don't fault him.. he's simply looking out for his paper. But I felt a need to clarify why I used the words I used. (We have since exchanged conciliatory emails and we're good, I'm pretty sure.) Roger will still be on the program Thursday.

Despite my best attempts to apologize for not being clear and thoughtful, I've found that some (not Roger) are hell-bent on making sure the most despicable motivations are assigned to their political opponents.

Sometimes I think the tenor of today's public discourse is lamentable, when an absent-minded use of a word is so quickly assumed to be an attempt at malicious sensationalism.