Charles Apple | Harrisburg Patriot-News
The Harrisburg Patriot-News says in a front-page editorial that Penn State University President Graham Spanier “did not do what is right — for his school or, more importantly, for the alleged victims of coaching legend Jerry Sandusky” and that he needs to resign. “By doing the absolute minimum when hearing potentially serious allegations, by doing more to protect the school’s reputation than to protect children, Spanier has lost [his] moral authority,” says the editorial board. It’s also calling for Coach Joe Paterno to leave the field after this season.
Some people will argue that Joe should step down immediately as well. Given what we know now, we don’t agree. Paterno should be allowed to finish out the year and retire with the honor and admiration he has earned since taking over as head coach in 1966.
Editor David Newhouse tells Charles Apple that the page one presentation is “a rework of the inspired 9-11 front from our sister paper, The Star-Ledger” and that “if front page designs had credits, we would have loved to have said that.” Newhouse says publisher John Kirkpatrick needed to be sold on the front-page placement, “but he asked what all the top editors thought and everyone was unanimous. In the end, he felt it was a gamble (in terms of community reaction, not design) but trusted his staff’s instincts and okayed it.”
By the way, we expected a deluge of calls and emails this morning angry that we turned our front page over to our own opinion. Instead, nearly all the feedback has been positive, some extremely so.
> Penn State paper: “The moral failure of every single person involved is appalling”
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