Defending the Long Island Lolita Story
Managing Editor, CNBC.com
We have a story about about the Long Island Lolita getting into the porn business.
Inevitably, whenever we put up a pornography-related story, we get comments from readers suggesting we shouldn't be doing such coverage.
Obviously, we disagree.
Like it or not, pornography is a big business (for a full take on how big, go here). We cover big businesses. Yes, some industries are more taboo than others. But ignoring them would not fulfill our journalistic mission. Hey, some folks have moral issues with tobacco companies, yet still we cover them.
In this particular case, the story is straightforward and tasteful (something we endeavor to do with ALL our coverage). And it uses the news event to touch on a discussion of changes in the overall industry. For those people in the comments section complaining about reading the story (not the folks making puerile jokes), the headline pretty much told you what was in store.
Granted, headlines with the word "porn" in them do exceedingly well and that is in our pecuniary interest. Then again, so do headlines with the word "Apple."
- Related: The Marijuana Argument
