Des Moines Register pulls map of school district security following criticism

Poynter:

The Des Moines Register published then removed an interactive map Wednesday that looked at how school resource officers are deployed in Iowa after it drew criticism from people who thought the map showed unprotected districts. Or as Fox News host Megyn Kelly put it, "If I'm some psycho, I might wanna play my odds."

The map "identifies more than 100 public schools, from kindergarten through high school and community college campuses that have no security," Mike Opelka wrote on The Blaze.

The Register changed the map to show only districts with full-time security, Fox News reports, then ditched that map, too. The article, which has drawn some angry comments, now has no map -- and no note explaining what happened.

Register Editor Rick Green told Kelly that the map was an attempt, in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre, to answer questions from parents about what sort of police presence their school districts had. It "showed no schools, showed no addresses [and] it did not go into detail," Green said. He said it was "incredibly unfortunate" that The Blaze was displaying a non-interactive version of the map on its site.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 30, 2013 3:26 AM
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