Gun ad’s placement shows poor judgment

We are alumni from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

We write this letter to express our enormous disappointment for the front-page edition of your newspaper, printed on May 2, 2018 (Vol. 59. No. 7). On the page you published three different stories reporting on the direct effects that gun violence has had in our community in just the past year and a half: one about the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting, one about the money raised for the victims and survivors of the MSD shooting, and a tribute to Alyssa Alhadeff, whose celebration of life took place yesterday on what would have been her 15th birthday.

Our disappointment in your poor judgment spurs from the ill-placed

advertisement for the Fort Lauderdale gun show, offering discounted admission and concealed permit classes, placed immediately below the aforementioned stories.

While we understand the Sun Sentinel is a business and depends on funding from advertisers, we cannot comprehend how your advertising team completely missed, perhaps ignored, the fact that this ad had no place near stories of this nature. The statement that you published on May 2, 2018 incorrectly accepts responsibility for the “juxtaposition of certain ads and news stories [appearing] extremely insensitive” because it violated your very own internal policy not to run gun advertising on your front page. This leads us to believe this was not a mistake, but an intentional action. The abject callousness of this placement is more than unfortunate then — it is cruel and agonizing. It showcases your power to reopen a wound that has not yet healed and undermines your ethical commitment to serve our community.

First, we demand a formal apology be printed as soon as possible. Your current apology is not sufficient for this level of ineptitude. Second, the Sun Sentinel should republish its tribute to Alyssa Alhadeff. Finally, an apology is owed to your employees whose news stories were sullied by the actions of a few. Signed, Anabelle Andon, Marissa Hanan, Ian Witlen...