Potter County Leader Enterprise Managing Editor, (and personal friend of mine) Donald Gilliland, has written an Editorial in this weeks edition of the Potter Leader Enterprise in defense of his use of profanity in headline.

Read his response here.


To be honest, I was waiting on this piece before I passed any judgement. In Bradford, I don't have time to chase down all the court documents, and see exactly how things were worded.

But Gilliland authorized the use of the word for good reason... because Easton and Leber both let it flow freely, according to court documents.

And really, what's so bad about the word in the first place?

Given, I don't want my little ones running around saying it.

But if my kids did not know the word was bad, and as two of them now can use phonics to decipher such words, they would quickly learn the word.

Is it bad for kids to know bad words? no. Gilliland actually gives a great piece of advice for using the headline and the word to prompt discussion..

"God forbid we actually TALK to our kids...."


While I still think I'll pass on pushing my own journalistic envelope quite so far, I certainly do respect Gilliland's gutsy move, even more so since his public explanation.


I will say that I love that many of those offended wrote letters to the editor to display their angst over the word, and Gilliland printed them.

That's the way the freedom of speech works. You say what you want, and you hold each other accountable for what you say.

And if you have a good defense (as in this case), then all's well that ends well.