Accuracy and fairness count in headlines, too

About 40 years ago, the Sentinel published a news story about how the U.S. Forest Service was going to start moving against illegal squatter cabins on the Stikine River. Seemed reasonable that the agency would enforce the law and evict people who had no legal right to build or park their float on public land.

The Forest Service announced its effort and we published under a headline something like, “Forest Service to evict illegal cabins.”

The agency’s overly sensitive central Southeast spokesperson at the district offices in Petersburg called to complain. He thought our headline was too negati...