Barbara Greenspun remembers 1959: Newspaper set own standards

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

Although Hank gave lip service to the theory that morals cannot be legislated, nevertheless he did set certain standards for his newspaper and his family. The Sun, he claimed, was a family newspaper. I, and some of my cohorts, attempted to prove it by by carefully painting bras and shorts on the pictures of seminude showgirls submitted for publication by hotel publicity departments.

Reporters were advised not to use certain words in describing gruesome murders and rapes. A medical column was carefully edited so as not to be too explicit. I recall when he was approached by Playboy to do a feature on his life, Hank declined as he knew his children would want to read the magazine and thus be exposed to the nudity. Those days were a far cry from today, when, it seems, almost anything goes.

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