Daily News Headline About Atlantic City Murders: Too Much? “Yo, Philly. Stick It.” That’s in short what the Atlantic City Press wrote in response to a Philadelphia Daily News front page calling Atlantic City a “Tourist Death Trap” after a double-murder Monday outside of the Bally’s casino. The stabbing victims were identified on Wednesday as Po Lin Wan, 80, and Alice Mei See Leung, 47, and their families notified. Antoinette Pelzer, 44, is charged with the crime. She appeared in court on Tuesday and bail was set at $1.5 million.

But the Atlantic City Press fired back at the Daily News with a column Wednesday:

“A “Tourist Death Trap”? 

Please.

In words our fellow journalists who designed Tuesday’s front page at the Philadelphia Daily News might use: Yo, Philly. Stick it.

Newspapers, of course, have an obligation to report the news, even and especially when the news is painful and distressing. And The Press of Atlantic City did not shy away from reporting this story in the newspaper and online. But our brethren at the Daily News were over the top – and irresponsible.”

The AC Press column goes on further describe how tourists are rarely a victim of crime in Atlantic City, and then takes on the Daily News further and asks readers to email Daily News editor Larry Platt with further complaints.

The Daily News, of course, is the Daily News - a tabloid known for splashy and even trashy front pages. But calling Atlantic City a “Tourist Death Trap” just as the summer tourist season is about to kick off is not only inaccurate - it’s downright mean-spirited.

Larry Platt is editor of The Daily News. People who care about Atlantic City and know the truth about the city might want to let him know how they feel. His email address is plattl@phillynews.com.

Interestingly, Daily News casino columnist Chuck Darrow seems to agree with the Press of Atlantic City. On Tuesday, he called out his own employer in a column about the cover and headline:

“Monday’s brutal and random stabbing deaths of two Canadian women in the heart of midtown are being played nationwide (if not worldwide) as just another day in Hell East. A perfect example is the Daily News’ Tuesday front page, which is dominated by the headline, “TOURIST DEATH TRAP.”

This is simply unfair. There is absolutely nothing in this tragedy that identifies it as an only-an-AyCee event. The perpetrator of the heinous crimes, a 44-year-old Philadelphia woman who reportedly suffers from mental illness, could have committed them anywhere—from New York’s Times Square, to the Las Vegas Strip to our own City Hall courtyard. That she did so at Michigan and Pacific avenues in Atlantic City was simply a function of coincidence, random chance, or, if you are so inclined to believe, the fates.”

What do you think? Was the Daily News cover and headline unfair on this story? 

-LD

[Philadelphia Daily News, Press of Atlantic City, NBC10, h/t @Romenesko]