Hey Journal, spin much?

May 17, 2011, page B1:

"Diesel-Hogging Rigs,” huh?
And just how much of your newsprint moves by truck?

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Well, we know *somebody* got him...

Over at The Telegraph, the juxtaposition of this pair of Melbourne, Australia, newspaper posters not only proved impossible for Tim Blair and his merry band of commenters to resist, but also inspired me to visit The Newseum’s collection of daily front pages, just to see how similar headlines were being handled here in America.  Not with intent to make a big deal out of what I might find, you understand; just to establish a few... um... data points.

(Yeah, that was the reason.)

Anywho, the Newseum offers images of the front pages of 484 U.S. dailies, and on Tuesday, May 3nd, 30 American papers had a “Got Him” (or similar) headline on their front pages. The breakdown?

If you were anticipating an excuse to snark about un-American American media, I’m afraid that this time you’ll have to look elsewhere.  Because of the 30 papers, 19 of them headlined their stories “How We Got Him.”  Only four opted for “they,” but I’ll forgive the Boston Herald on grounds of bellicosity (see below).  Another five used an alternate construction - mostly “the U.S.,” and the remainder get special mention.  And I didn’t notice any particular regional pattern: The Bakersfield Californian and the San Jose Mercury-News both used “we,” in Chicago they split the difference (The Sun-Times: “How We Got Him.” The Tribune: “How the U.S. Got Bin Laden”).  Same in the Sunshine State: Gannett’s Florida Today: “We.” The St.Petersburg Times: “They.”

The flag flew high in Georgia, with both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Savannah Morning News in the “How We Got Him” camp.  Perhaps the cold and rain muted the celebration in Kentucky, where the Herald-Leader opted for “They.”

And never underestimate the Minnesotans!  The Pioneer Press stepped up firmly with “How We Got Him,” only to be topped by the Bemidji Pioneer, which headlined its story “Face of Evil Eliminated.”  Brrrr!

Eastern papers were also heavily in the “we” camp.  Although the Post-Standard in Syracuse opted for “They,” down the road the Buffalo News offered “Strike Against Evil.”  As expected, the coastal tabloids were reliably bellicose, making the whole operation sound like a mob hit: “How They Took Him Out” (Boston Herald), “How We Did It!”- with exclamation mark (The New York Post), and, of course, the Daily News: “How We Nailed Him.”  The jovial atmosphere even managed to elicit a sigh of relief from Rhode Island’s Providence Journal: Well, give thinks that we FINALLY got him!


Lastly, a couple of special mentions: First the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin,
whose “How we pulled it off” left me suspecting some editorial feelings that this time we got lucky.


And making a strong showing in the Tepid Subhead category was the Meridian, Connecticut, Record-Journal, who (after quotes from the President, the CIA, and an “al-Quaida commentator,” managed to come up with: “Many rejoice at al-Quaida leader’s demise.”



Gee, do you really think so, bucky?



Below the break, the papers and their headlines...
more...

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First step...

W. Joseph Campbell:

The Washington Post ombudsman invokes in his column today the defining conceit of American journalism: That without truth-telling reporters and editors, democracy would be imperiled.

Or, as he puts it, rather simplistically:

What we do is report, write and edit stories.  We take and publish photographs (and now video, too).  We publish the stories and images as news through compelling design and graphics.  And, in columns and blogs, we analyze the news.  Through this painstaking process, we reveal truths.  The country cannot long survive as a democracy, or as a capitalist economy, without this kind of independent journalism.

Of course, if you’re gonna be a truth-teller, the first thing you’ve got to do is, y’know, start by telling the truth.

Elsewhere, related:  Lie in it.

(HT:  Insty)

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One of those questions that answer themselves

“Would they have reported these threats if they were made against Democrats?”

(Via:  Insty)

Related:

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Not well done.

Tim Blair, looking for some earthquake coverage by the Australian Broadcasting Company:

The ABC’s 24-hour news channel is currently showing a four-month-old Pat Dodson speech about how Aboriginal reconciliation can help combat climate change.

UPDATE.  Now ABC 24 is running a review of the week’s major stories.  Old clips from Libya.

UPDATE II.  Unbelievable.  ABC 24 is now showing a three-year-old piece about Belgian identity issues.

UPDATE III.  Breaking news at ABC 24: a story about Lourdes … from 2008.

UPDATE IV.  Want earthquake information?  Here’s yesterday’s episode of One Plus One instead.  Mia Freedman talks about body image!

UPDATE V.  Two hours after the Japanese government upgraded the death toll to 600, ABC 24’s graphic still has it at 400.

And it doesn’t get much better...


LATER (110313): And once the coverage starts, where’s the context?

Okay, so what?  How “elevated” were those [radiation] levels?  Where do the “elevated levels” compare to a deadly level of radiation?  There is no context here and, as a result, we don’t know whether this is worrisome news or an outright disaster.

Back in the day, a good reporter’s Rolodex would have had phone numbers for real scientists who could answer questions like these.

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The new Newsweek is out...

...and Kaus isn’t impressed:

The general impression: staleness, meaning a lack of both a) editorial imagination and b) news.  Readers could be forgiven for checking for dust to make sure the magazine didn’t drop from the attic where they stored it around 1999.

I’ve been unable to understand all the excitement about Tina Brown since back in the day when she hired on at Punch to do what I guess was supposed to be a “personality” column.  (My reaction at the time: Who is this person, and what’s the point of giving her all that space?)  Admittedly (and to my continued amazement), since then she’s gone from strength to strength.  (Shows how much I know.)

But couldn’t the mag’s official relaunch have been better served than with yet another profile of Hillary Clinton, and yet another “influential women” article?^[1]  After all, it ain’t named LifestyleWeek.  At least not yet.

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Spot the difference

Associated Press:

AOL to Buy Huffington Post News Site for $315M^[1]

Ace of Spades HQ:

What’s the going rate for an asylum full of crazies these days anyway?

Just to make things clear, I wouldn’t call Instapundit a “news site,” either, even though Glenn’s news-to-snark ratio beats Arianna’s Gang by a mile or so...

For the AP link, HT to anonymous in Roberta’s comments.
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Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 16:21:51 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Reinstating the gatekeepers

The Wall Street Journal’s L. Gordon Crovitz thinks Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s “filtered version” of WikiLeaks will be soooo much better than the original:

...OpenLeaks seems to understand the need for some accountable institution to be held responsible for leaks...

which will come, how?

...the site will partner with media outlets^[1] - five newspapers at first - and allow users to choose which paper to submit their information to.  These papers will then be able to review and fact-check the material before choosing to publish it or not.

Which is better than WikiLeaks because (Crovitz, again):

Several large newspapers, including the New York Times and London-based Guardian, collaborated to publicize the WikiLeaks material, even though they had limited discretion over how the information was released.

(IOW, if they ignored any part of the story, somebody might have called them on it.)

Under the OpenLeaks approach, news editors will have discretion.  They will have to protect innocent people...

!!!^[2]

Unlike Mr. Assange, editors answer to someone, namely readers and viewers.

...but most often, only to themselves.

So Crovitz favors restoring the power to determine what we know to the traditional gatekeepers, who, of course, have no political agenda and will always be on the lookout to carefully filter out anything that might harm our national interest, upset the public, or embarrass the good and great.  Oh, and the usual special interests^[1] would have their shot at weighing in before anything reaches print.

And Crovitz, or his editors, have the temerity to say the Orwellianly-named OpenLeaks process “promises more transparency”!

I’ll take my chances, and take my leaks unfiltered, thanks.


Elsewhere (Later, 20101214 17:10):

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G’bye Don, too bad, sorry to see you go...

Don Surber is one of the good guys who gets.frequent.linkage from Instapundit.  Too bad the owner of his paper has signed up with the Righthaven lawsuit factory.

Too bad I won’t be visiting any more.

Ave atque vale...

Related:
Previously:

(Via:  Sebastian, via Tam (and tnx for dept.).)

Below the break, the updated Righthaven-client blocklist.
more...

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So MSNBC bounced Olbermann for donating to Democrats...?

Big deal.  He can always go to work at NPR.  I bet Vivian would just love him.

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