Newspaper's Crime Item About 'Black Man' Leads To Outrage

PHOTO: That's Messed Up

A West Virginia newspaper got into some trouble over the weekend thanks to an editing snafu.

The Dominion Post in Morgantown, West Virginia ran this item about a request from the sheriff's department, as reported by Corey Hutchins at the Columbia Journalism Review:

When the Morgantown PD and the Dominion Post combine this is what you get pic.twitter.com/ze0I8PR5Y8

— G. Shepherd (@Goosed46) January 13, 2014

The Oregonian's Jake Arnold called the item "the worst possible way to do a crime suspect description," while reporter Scott Fallon asked, "That’s your best description, Dominion Post?"

Deputy Morgan told Hutchins that he had been fielding complaints about the item "day and night."

He said that he requested clarification from the Post, which posted an updated description of the man sought by the sheriff's department. For its part, the Dominion Post attributed the original item to a "copy editor’s error" in a note on Monday.

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