When news breaks that contains profanity, it's always interesting to see how different media outlets cover it. (For example, Gelf compared how news outlets dealt with Robert Novak's outburst on CNN's Inside Politics, certain censored-by-TV Rolling Stones lyrics, and the title of an Ibsen-themed show.) So when Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen called Jay Mariotti, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and a regular on ESPN's Around the Horn, "a piece of shit" and a "fucking fag" after Mariotti wrote a column questioning Guillen's sanity, Gelf decided to check out how some popular news sites handled it.

Chicago Sun-Times

Guillen drew national attention by calling Mariotti ''a piece of s---'' and a f------ fag.''
The third-year manager then explained after Tuesday's game to Sun-Times columnist Greg Couch that in Venezuela, the term "fag'' has to do with courage and that he meant Mariotti was ''not man enough to meet me and talk about [things before writing].''

AP (via New York Times)

Before that game, Guillen went into a tirade against Jay Mariotti, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist, and called him a number of names, including a derogatory term that is often used to describe someone's sexual orientation.

Reuters

Chicago Sun Times columnist Jay Mariotti wrote a story harshly critical of Guillen's behavior. When asked about it, Guillen launched into a tirade, calling Mariotti a "a fag" for objecting to that eye-for-an-eye aspect of baseball code.

MLB.com, quoting commissioner Bug Selig

"On Tuesday night, Ozzie Guillen used language that is offensive and completely unacceptable. Baseball is a social institution with responsibility to set appropriate tone and example. Conduct or language that reflects otherwise will not be tolerated. The use of slurs embarrasses the individual, the club and the game."

SI.com columnist John Donovan

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig fined Guillen on Thursday and ordered him into sensitivity training after he called Chicago newspaper columnist and TV talking head Jay Mariotti a "fag." It wasn't a smart thing to call someone, even someone who can be as grating as Mariotti.

WSJ.com's Daily Fix

Choosing between Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti in their ugly feud is no fun, so the Fix will stipulate that they're both jerks. Mr. Guillen used a slur to demean both Mr. Mariotti and gays (though he later sought to establish his lack of homophobia by noting, among other things, his attendance at WNBA games).
Editor's note: Carl Bialik, a Gelf editor, cowrites the Fix with Jason Fry.

Detroit Free Press

Guillen, upset at recent criticism by Mariotti, called him several names before Tuesday's game against St. Louis. The one that got him in trouble is used to describe sexual orientation…
Guillen apologized Wednesday to anyone who was offended by the slur, but not to Mariotti.

Editor & Publisher

"If I hurt anybody with what I called him, I apologize," Guillen was quoted as saying in reference to his use of a slur against homosexuals. "But I wasn't talking about those people, I was talking strictly about [Mariotti]."

In a letter to the editors, reader John Sulikowski called out E&P for failing to tell readers what Guillen actually said:

The piece reads more like something a five-year-old would write. The "slur" couldn't have been the "f" word, could it? Typical gutless journalism.

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