Should You Use The “N” Word?

Should you use the “N” word?

If your news­pa­per is run­ning a story regard­ing a topic that involves racial slurs (an art exhibit, guest speaker, book release, MLK week) and the “N” word is used, do you print the word in its entirety? Would it be dam­ag­ing to the con­text of the story to replace some let­ters with asterisks?

What if it’s a quote? Main­tain­ing the integrity of a quote is impor­tant in sto­ries, but at the sake of say­ing some­thing that could be dam­ag­ing to the newspaper’s integrity.

Should the race of the reporter mat­ter?
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