Can You Say That On Television? Should You?

After three teenagers were shot and killed in the Juniata section of the city in 2012, Mayor Michael Nutter was asked for a reaction. His comments are in the video above.

Is it acceptable to air his comments without bleeping?

Legally, it is fine for print. Ethically, would you print such a comment from a prominent figure? Or does his prominence make the quote all the more powerful?

Would you post the video on the online site of a news outlet?

Can You Say That On-Air or In Print?

LAST WEEK, THE Washington Post discovered that, for many years, presidential candidate Rick Perry leased a hunting camp that he had a racially offensive nickname for. Here is the lead of the Post's story:

In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance.

“Niggerhead,” it read.

Other media outlets followed the story and repeated the name, including the New York Times.

Should the media use the term in print? On air?

Does running the term perpetuate the awful connotations, or do we reduce it's power by repeating it?