Quick….someone ask Harry Reid if he still wants that “broad discussion” of civil rights in America.

Staff at the Daily Breeze were so overcome with joy they could hardly contain themselves.  They quickly went to press with a front-page headline that  read:  “‘Slave’ becomes master.”  What the paper wasn’t prepared for, however, was the barrage of criticism that would soon be coming their way.

(Yahoo) – Like many newspapers, the Daily Breeze published a cover story Monday about the Academy Awards and “12 Years a Slave,” which became the first movie ever directed by a black filmmaker to win best picture.

But the Torrance, Calif., newspaper went with a front-page headline that, given the film’s subject matter, some deemed insensitive. It read: “‘Slave’ becomes master.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Michael Anastasi, vice president and executive editor of news at Daily Breeze owner Los Angeles News Group, told Yahoo News of the criticism. “It was tacky, ridiculous and frankly stupid. I can’t defend it, so I’m not going to.” 

Anastasi said the company, which owns nine daily newspapers, held a meeting with “all editors involved” on Monday to “figure out how this happened,” and he said the matter was being handled internally.  (Ed….what?  You’re telling us anonymous fairies write the bylines?)

He said he was aware of only two calls from readers complaining about the cover.

But the reactions on Twitter ranged from incredulous to irate. (Read more...)