Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community

Seattle Times Reflects on Its Coverage of the Exclusion

A rare number of media outlets — most notably the Bainbridge Island Review — took a principled stand against incarceration. Others, including The Seattle Times, did not. Eight decades later, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen called that decision a “low point” in the paper’s history.

Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen said the process of looking back is healthy.

“I always wish that that generation of the Blethen family had had the same kind of gumption and compassion” as the publishers of the Bainbridge Island Review, who protested Order 9066.

Today we launch a project called A1 Revisited, scrutinizing our coverage of historic moments — starting with the day Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from Bainbridge — to begin to be accountable for the impact of past mistakes on our region.

Click here to read the full article from the Seattle Times.

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