Charleston paper apologizes for placing gun ads next to story on church massacre

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Awful timing.

Charleston’s main daily newspaper The Post and Courier apologized Thursday after some editions of the paper included advertisements for a gun range.

The ads, which were in the form of “sticky notes,” were placed on top of the paper’s front page story about the Charleston shooting which killed nine people.

Social media complaints were swift. Several people who received the paper with the ad shared photos with less-than-enthused captions.

“The front-page sticky note that was attached to some home delivery newspapers on the same day as this tragedy is a deeply regrettable coincidence,” the newspaper said in a statement to Poynter blogger Jim Romenesko. “We apologize to those who were offended.”

An unnamed advertising manager at the paper told Romenesko the entire incident was “unfortunate timing.”  He said additionally that the ads were “already scheduled.”