Quote For The Day

“To my infinite regret, we never asked anyone knowledgeable enough about transgender issues to help us either (a) improve the piece, or (b) realize that we shouldn’t run it. That’s our mistake — and really, my mistake, since it’s my site. So I want to apologize. I failed. More importantly, I realized over the weekend that I didn’t know nearly enough about the transgender community – and neither does my staff. I read Caleb’s piece a certain way because of my own experiences in life. That’s not an acceptable excuse; it’s just what happened,” – Bill Simmons, new media pioneer, editor-in-chief of Grantland.

For a more thorough piece on how those mistakes happened, read … Grantland’s Christina Kahrl.

Simmons’ account of how a piece came to be published is fascinating. (I have a question: is there anyone at Grantland who is gay and might have had a role in reviewing this piece? Being gay does not mean understanding the issues facing transgender people, but it helps a little. Diversity does have a point in journalism – and not because of lefty abstractions.) Otherwise, I’m struck by the thoroughness and integrity of the public accounting and the sincerity of the apology. I think it’s way better than would have once happened in legacy media. Because it’s personal and real.