Time Out Magazine has just published an "opinion piece":

Lynch the Lamma mutt murderer

I expected a lot more than all these bad puns when the writer emailed me to get some local contacts a week ago.
And that cartoon of poisoned hippies is beyond words....

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What a spectacularly crap article.

Really, really shite.

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i have just spoken to a friend that writes for time out. she said many of the articles they write are 'to make some noise and encourage commentary'. no excuse.

she said you can direct any comments directly to matt fleming or write a letter to the editor but it would seem that is what they are after.

i would have expected something like this from HK magazine not time out.

What a complete asshole that reporter is.

I do think that some here are being a little extreme in their reactions, but I would never turn the killing of pets into a joke.

Looks like Matt Fleming has joined Senior Inspector Toby Bull as someone who would be unwise to turn up at a Lamma bar for a few drinks.

there is a space for comments under the Timeout article. I think the author deserves a bit of stick for his lame and insensitive piece

Times up Matt!

Matt Fleming is on Facebook send him a message.

Or you could email Matthew Fleming at Time Out HK directly.
He emailed me on Oct 3, asking for contacts about the dog poisoning "to write a little opinion piece on it."
Like many HK media people, he's a long-time subscriber of my twice-monthly Lamma-zine e-newsletter.

I'll be happy to forward emails to him directly, or even ask him if he wouldn't mind me publishing his email address....

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Perhaps he would be good enough to comment here on this thread, explaining the thinking behind his article, or maybe even offering an apology

They probably have a standing policy to make every Lamma story about hippies and drugs.

Actually you can't blame the reporter alone, it was approved and published by the magazine. They commissioned artwork. It isn't a one-man blog. The magazine publisher is the one ultimately responsible, legally and morally.

Have another look at the comments after this Time Out article's online version. Almost 100% negative, probably the worst feedback that I've seen for any Time Out "article", deservedly so.

17 comments so far, quite a number of them from members of this forum:
Lynch the Lamma mutt murderer.

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There was a two-page petition handed out at the Central pier today, with a copy of the Time Out article and a letter addressed to Time Out demanding a public apology, signed by "The Lamma Community Group".

English text, Chinese translation and the letter to the Time Out Group are here:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/time-out-apology.html#fbbox

We'll hear more from the brand-new "Lamma Community Group", led by Lee-Ann, very soon....

At the bottom of the petition web page above, there's an automatically inserted paid Google ad for www.Paraquat.com

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After 43 comments on this "opinion piece", Time Out HK Magazine posted a little apology as the very last comment on the article their website and then closed the topic off to prevent further all-negative comments. The post was only found by somebody who wanted to post one more complaint:

http://www.timeout.com.hk/big-smog/features/45836/lynch-the-lamma-mutt-murderer.html

Posted by Time Out Hong Kong on October 26, 2011 at 04:16 AM

"A Personal Message from Time Out Last issue’s Slice of Life (‘Lynch the Lamma mutt murderer’) caused some anger, not to mention hurt, among a number of our Lamma readers. Flippancy coupled with the death of family pets certainly do not make for fine bedfellows, and Time Out acknowledges the ill-judged puns and the offence they may have caused. That was certainly not our intention. But the nucleus of the column still remains: Whoever is cruelly poisoning the “poor, defenceless” dogs on Lamma island must be apprehend and served the full weight of the law. Time Out has always championed the ethical treatment of animals, and pet welfare, as past issues justify. Residents of Lamma, we are sorry if we caused you hurt. And we are with you. INFORMATION: If anyone has any information regarding the dog incidents on Lamma, please contact the SPCA Animal Rescue & Cruelty Case Investigation (24-Hour Hotline) at 2711 1000 THIS ARTICLE IS NOW CLOSED FOR FURTHER COMMENTS."

Is this the end of this issue and will this surprising, but low-visibility and poorly-written "apology" satisfy all the upset Lammaites?

Not according to the "Lamma Community Group" campaign which just ended collecting a huge number of signatures last night, insisting on a high-visibility, official apology not just a post at the very end of a now-closed forum topic, preventing further comments about their "apology".

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The apology and two letters selected from the online feedback are also printed on the letters page of the new mag.

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Wow, that's quite a surprise!

So this means that you haven't cancelled your Time Out subscription yet like a few other Lammaites have? Getting readers to pay a very substantial $18 for a magazine when all their local (sometimes better) competition is free, can't be easy.

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Why LG? Surely it's the least they can do! And why does it mean I haven't cancelled my subscription? FWIW, until recently I'd have said that Time Out was well worth its price compared to the freebies, though it has (obviously) gone down hill ...

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Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

It's good but it's also a surprise because it looked like they were trying to get away with issuing a very low-visibility apology, only seen by a handful of people still looking at that now-closed form, not a public, printed one.

It seems that they might have heard about the signature campaign, negative PR coming up and some other media getting interested in the story and have cleverly chosen to preempt it and issue a printed apology ahead of it.

Also, the posts in their forum about cancelling subscriptions and even some actual cancel-my-subscription! emails they received might have helped a bit as well.

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The “apology” actually still insinuates “lynch” and unlawful action by Lamma community.

Letter from the newly formed "Lamma Community Group":

Dear Lamma Community,

The Lamma Community Group provides the following response to the article and personal message published by Time Out Hong Kong:

On October 11th, 2011, Time Out Hong Kong published an article, "Lynch the Lamma Mutt Murderer," written by Matt Fleming. As members of the Lamma community, we found the article highly offensive; we promptly formed the Lamma Community Group to demand an apology for the insensitive nature of the article. On October 13th, 2011, we launched a community based campaign, “A Time out for Time Out.”

On October 26th, 2011 at 4:16am, Time Out Hong Kong posted, "A personal message to Lamma residents" on the comment thread of its website and on page 4 of its newly released hard copy (Issue 91, October 26th - November 8th, 2011). In the personal message, (page 4, Issue 91); Time Out Hong Kong acknowledges “the ill judged puns and offense they may have caused.”

The Lamma Community Group would like to clarify that the objective of campaign, ”A Time Out for Time Out,” is to raise awareness to the unnecessary loss of animal lives and highlight the relationship between the dog poisoning incident and a potential threat to humans. Within the goals of this campaign, we strive to maintain the standards set forth in the Joint Code of Ethics of the 4 Journalistic Organizations Code of Ethics; namely sections (1), (2) and (3) which clearly state :

Code of Ethics
<OL><LI>Journalists should handle news information with an attitude of seeking truth, fairness, objectivity, impartiality and comprehensiveness. Journalists should strive to ensure accuracy of their reports. They should not mislead the public by quoting out of context, distorting facts or twisting original meaning.
<LI>Whenever there are inaccuracy, misleading facts or figures, or distortion of original meaning, media organisations should provide persons or organisations affected with the earliest opportunity to rebut. Correction should be made promptly.
<LI>Journalists should not pander to prurience, indecency and sensationalism when reporting news, especially when it involving violence, sex-related crime or suicide.</OL>
It is the belief of the Lamma Community Group that Time Out Hong Kong has violated the Code of Ethics mentioned above and in doing so; Time Out Hong Kong neglected to consider the loss and suffering of the affected families and manifested a poor example of corporate social responsibility.

After a weekend of much thought and discussion, the Lamma Community group has concluded that the sudden death of a number of dogs is a serious incident which affects not only Lamma Island, but all sectors of Hong Kong's society. Therefore, we will continue with our demand for an apology to be published in a separate news source; approved by the Lamma Community group.
We would also like to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to our community and the Hong Kong community at large for the encouragement and ongoing support we have received.

Sincerely,
Lamma Community Group.

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