Gutting dismissal, cancellation of Miller readings hint at censorship

In a lecture to a small audience at the Baltimore Book Festival on Sunday, NYU professor, author and media critic Mark Crispin Miller dropped discussion of his current book tour to reflect on his own experience and reflections on the media and government in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11. Despite some positive remarks for the news media's treatment of events, Miller offered his concerns about censorship and complacent media coverage. He also suggested that advocating certain modes of U.S. aggression would be playing into the aims of the enemy and therefore "close to treasonous."

A few members of the audience, however, were visibly angered by the critical nature of Miller's remarks, leading one man, concerned that the author was not saying anything positive, to exclaim "You're spreading the seeds of disunity!" before abruptly leaving the reading area.

Texas City Sun columnist Tom Gutting is another author accused of spreading the seeds of disunity. He was fired from his job after writing a critical column titled "Bush Fails to Lead U.S." published on Saturday, Sept. 22. Gutting, who graduated from Hopkins last spring and was Editor-in-Chief of the News-Letter, characterized Bush's television address to the nation as "vague" and "trite." He wrote, "I refuse to blindly follow any man who claims to be leading us into 'war,' particularly one who has shown such poor judgement and leadership."

He continued by describing Bush's performance on Sept. 11 as "W. flying around like a scared child seeking refuge from his mother's bed after having a nightmare."

The paper soon began receiving numerous complaints and threats. "I don't know how many times I've been threatened with lynching in the last two weeks," said Gutting.

City Sun publisher Les Daughtry responded by printing a front page apology for allowing what he called the "very inappropriate opinion" to print. He also included his own op/ed expressing his personal disapproval of the statements and ideas suggested in the piece.

Daughtry wrote, "Tom's column was so offensive to me personally that I had a hard time getting all the way through it, and in fact, still feel ill from its effects as I write this."

Although not happy with most of the points made in Daughtry's apology, Gutting, who was the paper's City Editor, respected the publisher's authority over content but noted that "he also made it clear to me I hadn't violated any policy of the company." It was not until Gutting returned to work on Sept. 25 that the decision was altered to the termination of his position at the paper.

At his meeting with Daughtry, Gutting claims he was told that "I don't think we can work productively any more" without an elaboration of the reasons for his dismissal. He was given two weeks severance pay.

Daughtry refuses to say that Gutting was fired, but says that the termination of Gutting's position "was my decision and my decision alone."

Gutting's situation, along with other incidents, was soon picked up by the national media, including brief mentions in the The New York Times and Howard Kurtz's media column of The Washington Post.

"I'm kind of enjoying the fallout that came out of this," said Gutting. "I think [Daughtry] thought he could just fire me and get me over with and buried but I think it's gone on longer than he'd like."

"People have been talking a lot about how we're going to make our country more secure," he said. "I think it's wrong to equate sort of having more strict security at airports and we're also going to give up our First Amendment rights. I think, if anything, in a situation where there is such a unity of thought, it's really important that there is some kind of dissent. I think that's the whole point of the Republic and democracy that we have here."

Miller suggested that there has been censorship of his own material, since Barnes and Noble canceled the remaining dates in which they had arranged readings both in New York and elsewhere for his The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder. The book attacks the Bush campaign and presidency by using Bush's own words.

"I think that, as a general rule, the largest book seller in the United States should be standing up for freedom of expression and not knuckling under at the first sign of crisis," said Miller. "So I was disappointed at that response."

Barnes and Noble disagrees with Miller's censorship claims. "We do not cancel any events based on content," said Barnes and Noble communications specialist Sherri Skok. She said that New York events were canceled for safety until Sept. 15 and that in other cases or locations the decision was left to the individual stores.

Miller has also long been a critic of the various media of popular culture that use "paralyzing, superficial" and "narcotic" irony to put down anything earnest or sincere. However, he finds that the current crisis has brought about a temporary suspension of much of this type of media.

"I think that the disappearance of that kind of brainless irony can't be bad," said Miller. "But the question is, will a new solemnity replace it? Because that solemnity could be just as effective at shutting off critical thinking as the irony was. The most important thing is people think critically, take things seriously, and be capable of outrage. That's in short supply in a culture of teenage irony, but it's just as much a danger in a culture of earnest, hyper-patriotic group-think.