Courant Apologizes for Aiding 'Red Scare' Hysteria
November 25, 2019
On July 4, 2000, the Hartford Courant apologized for its complicity in the slave trade --more than 150 years late. The Courant ran ads that advertised slaves for sale and called for the capture of runaway slaves.
Homefront readers are invited to suggest apologies the newspaper might want to start working on now for a future date.
Below is one example of an actual position the Courant took right after World War I. The resulting "article," dated 100 years from now, is what the paper's apology might look like.
Your suggestions are welcome (see lnk at bottom of page). We'll print all-- or almost all-- of them and announce a winner.
Many of those held were eventually deported from the United States. The Hartford roundup predated the infamous "Palmer Raids" by about two months.
The Courant representatives provided numerous examples of biased news and editorial reporting that the officials said were "proof positive of our complicity in this shameful era." In one case, the Courant printed a photo and the address of the local IWW office. The resulting public pressure caused the building's owner to evict the union.
The newspaper also printed a story about postcards imprinted with red flaming question marks, which a reporter suggested might be "warnings to reds." The cards were actually a movie advertising gimmick.
In another example, the Courant provided press conference participants with numerous examples of
(Hartford) The publisher of the Courant admitted today that the newspaper's active support of the government crackdown on union activists and political dissent was a "gross overreaction that ruined lives and damaged our democracy."
Speaking at a press conference today, the paper's top officer said that in 1919, the Courant "fueled the fires" of anti-communist hysteria by exaggerating the danger posed by labor organizers who attempted to organize Hartford workers.
The result of the local anti-communist campaign ended in the arrests of more than one hundred activists, many of whom were held for weeks at a time in a Hartford jail without bail or the right to legal counsel.
copies of editorials and editorial cartoons it had printed, including a cartoon of Uncle Sam throwing "bolsheviks" off a cliff, accompanied by the caption "Treat 'em Rough!"
"I suppose you just have to chalk this embarassing period to the fact we were so closely linked to corporate interests," said the Courant spokesperson, who asked that her name not be printed. " We are truly sorry that
