WHY WE RAN THE PHOTO

This picture was, indeed, worth a thousand words.

The police raid on an alleged meth lab in New Cumberland was a major
story yesterday, but what seemed to be equally upsetting to many
readers was the photo that we published with the story.

The Patriot-News heard from dozens of readers who objected to our
photo of two handcuffed men charged with manufacturing and delivering
methamphetamine. One of the men was making an obscene gesture.

"What an error in judgment," wrote Mary Jo Baldridge. "What were you
thinking, to put the picture of some lowlife giving the finger on the
front page of the newspaper? Did you think of the repercussions at all?"

"Is there still a standard of decency left?" asked Mary Brunski.

We thought very carefully about whether we should publish the photo,
knowing it had the potential to offend. Here is what we saw: a photo
of two men being led away for what could be many years behind bars if
convicted, having possibly ruined their lives. Yet it appeared to us
that these two young guys -- charged with manufacturing a deadly drug
- -- were taking their arrest as funny, a moment for rude humor rather
than remorse.

We believed that this photo powerfully drove home the true impact of drugs.

Many readers strongly disagreed. In particular, they said the photo
was a poor choice because children read The Patriot-News.

"That is terrible for children and students to see," wrote Carol
Nollenberger, a high school librarian.

"My children are to use the newspaper as a reading source for
homework for school," wrote Beth Kranzel, echoing the concerns of
many parents. "Do you really think a picture of a young man
displaying not one but both middle fingers is appropriate?"

As a father with four daughters, I was very aware of children seeing
this picture. So was our managing editor, Cate Barron, who has a son
in middle school.

We are also aware that our kids are growing up in a society where --
whether they live in the inner city or in middle-class suburbs --
they will be faced with the availability of drugs. They will almost
certainly face moments of decision, tough choices involving peers or
friends -- either now or in college.

How will they react? Will they think that drugs are cool? Or will
they recognize drugs as a path to destruction?

"We should not have to worry about our children seeing things like
this on the front or any page, for that matter," wrote Robin Rowe.

However, when one of my daughters saw the photo, the first thing she
said was: "What a loser." In that moment, I was proud of her and glad
we ran the photo.

Of course, there was no convincing some readers.

"You should be ashamed," wrote Sherri Deets. "No wonder the world is
the way it is! When 'freedom of speech' overrides good common sense!
Where are your morals?"

"You people are disgusting," was the judgment of Cindy Alandar.

James Hogan complained to columnist Nancy Eshelman about the photo
and asked her to remind the editor "that we are not as dumb as he thinks."

But many readers said they appreciated that we had good, thoughtful
reasons for running the photo, whether they personally would have
made the same decision or not.

A reader named Mike, who said he lost a close friend to drug
addiction, wrote that "a photo such as this would certainly have
shown him what I saw in him due to his drug abuse. I will make sure
to keep this page in my personal archives to someday show my three
young children what it's like to be involved in the culture of drugs."

We still believe that this photo pointed up the destructive nature of
what police believe is drug dealing in our community. But we agreed
with one reader's comment 100 percent.

He said that the next time we have a controversial photo, we should
run an editor's note explaining why we felt it was important.

A great idea -- and one we'll remember.