This week,
the
Chicago Tribune published an online column by health and fitness reporter
Julie Deardorff, but decided not to publish it in the paper.
The reason: The column was titled
"Mommy, is there a Santa Claus?," and the paper didn't want little kids to read it.
The column tells the struggle of Deardorff and her husband trying to come to terms with what they should tell their son about Santa. The online version of the story begins with a warning in red font:
WARNING: If you're expecting a visit from Santa Claus this year -- the jolly man who lives in the North Pole -- stop reading now. Really. This article contains a cherished, time-honored secret.
But if you know Santa's legal address, perhaps you've wrestled with the same question I'm facing.
I asked Deardorff some questions about the column via e-mail. Her edited responses are below.
Al Tompkins: The story ran online but not in print. Why?
Julie Deardorff: Readers have told us their kids read the paper, so the editors wanted to keep it family-friendly. Last year's blog item on the same topic generated more outrage than I'm seeing this year, though. My main point of the piece was that parents seem to need Santa more than kids because we need to remember a time that was magical when we get older. We give that to our kids through Santa. I think the anger at "outing" Santa reflects that.
Can you think of any other story we want to hide from kids by placing it online exclusively?
|
Chicago Tribune
Julie Deardorff |
Deardorff: I can't, especially because it doesn't work to hide things online. Any child who can type the word "Santa" into Google could essentially find it. We publish countless stories online that never appear in print, but that's mostly because of space limitations and the Web-based interactive opportunities. On the other hand, we cover lots of things that we don't want our children to read. If Santa robbed a bank, you can be sure that would be in the newspaper. On those days, we hide the newspaper from our kids.
Why did you think this topic was worthwhile to start with? Deardorff: It's a very real problem that many parents wrestle with in today's culture. My piece wasn't just about Santa; it was about honoring two different traditions in a family. I also thought it was worthwhile because Santa affects everyone, whether you believe in him or not. If you don't believe in him, there's an unwritten rule that you don't out him to others. Many other parents who don't celebrate Santa-related traditions are forced to tell their children about him so their kids don't feel left out.
What I found fascinating was that the Santa myth is so powerful and persuasive that kids whose parents tell them the truth about Santa often don't believe it. They listen to the media and their friends instead.
* * *
I asked one of the wisest people I know, my Poynter colleague Gregory Favre, what he thinks about all of this. He wrote me back, saying:
A wonderful issue to explore. I agree that parents need to tell their children the truth, but is it necessary to destroy all the myths of our youth? And do journalists need to be part of the process in doing so? I think not.
I just finished writing our family Christmas letter, and I wrote a line that said the world as we have known it seems to be spinning around on an unbalanced axle. Our children are growing up in a world that is so different from the world you and I experienced. They are growing up faster than we did. Shouldn't we help them hold on to their youth a little longer?
In speeches I have used a line our granddaughter told her mom, our daughter, when she learned there was no Santa a while back. "So, there's no magic in the world." But there is magic in Santa. There is magic in the children who await his arrival. And isn't there magic in believing?
And I have always had problems with the disclaimer: Beware, we are going to expose you to something you might not want to know. Seems to me that's a cop-out. It's not my fault if you read this. I warned you, so don't blame me.
Yes, Virginia, I never OK'd a story dissing old St. Nick. Is there a dividing line between print and online when it comes to these kinds of judgments? I hope not.
I asked some of my Poynter colleagues how they talked to their kids about Santa. Here is one response I got from program coordinator
Jeanne Nissenbaum:
That was a sticky subject. But because we celebrated Jewish holidays since they were babies, it became easier. They knew we didn't celebrate Christmas, and thought that meant Santa would not come to our house. We had the eight nights of Chanukah instead, which was a good deal.
They were a little upset when we went into malls because the malls were ALL Christmas. Even though their schools honored both holidays, they felt it was harder to be Jewish.
Twenty-eight years ago, I was a newscast producer at
WPSD-TV in Paducah, Ky. For whatever reason, on that Christmas Eve in 1980, we were experiencing a heavy news day. It was a tradition at that station to, on the evening newscast, show a shot of the weather radar and an image of what appeared to be Santa flying around the four-state area we covered.
I didn't have children and had no particular attachment to the tradition, so I made a choice to exclude the flying Santa from the weathercast and save the time. The anchor, a wise man (no pun intended), warned me it would be a problem.
But I had journalistic principles, darn it. On with the news. My boss called when the show was nearly over and wondered what time we would be showing the radar Santa. There was an unmistakable "you WILL show the flying Santa" tone to his voice.
The phones in the newsroom were ringing with people complaining that their kids would not go to bed until they saw the radar and could be assured that Santa would visit them that night.
It was 10:29 p.m., and "The Johnny Carson Show" would be coming on at 10:30 p.m. I made the decision to "go over" and show the darn flying Santa even if it meant cutting into Carson's monologue, something you simply did NOT do. We didn't get a single complaint, and the newsroom phones fell quiet.
I'm amazed that my stance that a fluffy feel good...
