Most of this post was written back in April of 2011, but today's headlines or lack of headlines made me consider updating my thoughts.
Yesterday was a serious day for our country. As an editorial in the NY Times said, "Mr. Trump’s own lawyer has now accused him, under oath, of committing a felony."
A story in the Washington Post reported the following, "Cohen told the court that 'in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,' he and the chief executive of a media company worked in the summer of 2016 to keep an individual from publicly disclosing information that could harm the candidate. And he said he worked 'in coordination' with the same candidate to make a payment to a second individual."
I think the proper description is that the guy in the oval office is now an unindicted co-conspirator and we still do not know all the details of his connections to the Russians.
However, this is a post about newspapers, not the oval office. We do not get to this point without having a media empire dedicated to publishing half-truths and ignoring facts. However, I am not talking about television, but my morning newspaper. This morning, August 22, 2018, our Jacksonville paper had nothing about the crucial events yesterday which are absolutely important to people who still believe in the rule of law and our constitution.
If your newspaper managed to ignore this story, maybe you want to look for a new newspaper. We only take the Jacksonville paper for the comics and to have something to go on the cutting board when I am cleaning fish but I might have to find something better for the fish.
Fish guts smell better than newspapers that will not cover stories just because they do not fit their political narrative.
I have said it many times before, good newspapers present multiple viewpoints but no one can argue about convictions for a crime being a fact and real news. As a parting shot, the truth is the truth. I sure wish Stephen Colbert had not gone on a two-week vacation during this crucial time. I need a little levity. Below is the story that originally prompted this post.
On Sunday, April 17, 2011, just a little after twelve noon, we were checking out at Walgreens after shopping for a couple items on the way home from church.
I noticed the Carteret News-Times on a stand at the end of the counter, and I started to pick up one and have the clerk charge us for it.
Then I noticed that the Sunday paper had nothing on the front page about the historic tornado outbreak that hit North Carolina on Saturday with enough violence to kill over twenty-two people.
I decided in an instant that the Carteret News-Times wasn't worth its seventy-five cents cover price. I put it down, and we left without one.
Now I realize that newspapers are facing challenging times, but really how hard could this be? Surely there is one reporter out there who could have written up something about the storm on Saturday night and gotten it into the Sunday paper.
Most of the storm was gone from Carteret County by nine PM on Saturday night. Certainly, there was time to get at least one story in the Sunday paper. But apparently it didn't happen, and even worse the paper's webpage still has nothing about the storms on Monday after the weekend. Even taking into consideration that the Carteret paper only publishes three days a week, one of those days is Sunday.
A funny thing about Sunday papers is that they at least need the Saturday news to be relevant and worthy of the name, "Newspaper."
The neighboring Jacksonville Daily News had plenty of storm coverage. Interestingly it was sold out at Walgreen's. We read it earlier in the morning at breakfast since we subscribe to it.
I have been a newspaper addict all of my life so criticism of words printed or not printed on newsprint does not come easily to me.
In my teenage years, I used to visit with RJ Berrier who then the editor of the Mount Airy Times. I would often be in his office after midnight just when he had come back from his ride with the local policemen. His manual typewriter would be on his desk. With a cigarette dangling from his lips and often a glass of bourbon and branch on his desk, he would pound out a column. Then he would walk it into the backroom where William Carter would typeset it with honest to goodness lead type. The next morning, the paper and the story I had watched being written would be on my doorstep. That is the way newspapers are supposed to work.
Modern technology should have made it easier, not harder to get a timely story out. I know the old press at the Mount Airy Times had to be coaxed to turn out a newspaper, but rarely did it fail the town. RJ would spin in his grave over tornadoes next door being ignored.
A newspaper is a record of our times, how can a responsible newspaper ignore an event as huge as what happened in NC on Saturday, April 17? I live on the western edge of Carteret County, and a tornado hit less than 13 miles from our home. It hit in Onslow County, an adjoining county. A child had to be flown to Greenville because of injuries sustained in the tornado.
I don't expect in-depth coverage of Afghanistan from the Carteret News-Times, but I do think that they could cover a tornado in an adjoining county.
To answer my own question, a newspaper stops being a newspaper when it doesn't record the news of its area. The Carteret News Times spends an inordinate amount of resources promoting its conservative political views, and clearly not enough time and effort reporting the news.
While I have no problem with conservative views, most intelligent newspapers have long ago stopped publishing Anne Coulter, who seems to almost have a regular spot in the Carteret paper.
There is more to news than small community chit-chat. If newspapers are no longer a way to read about important news, they have lost their way. By not finding a way to report on the tornado outbreak, I think the Carteret News-Times has shown that it indeed has lost its way and perhaps its claim to the name, "Newspaper."
While I care about the new boat ramp at Emerald Isle, the grand opening on Friday was not exactly the biggest news for Sunday, April 17. It is a beautiful facility, but it certainly didn't qualify as the lead story on a day when tornadoes killed 22 people in NC. I drove by myself and took some pictures on Friday morning before the grand opening. I might have read the story on the ramp if I had seen enough real news to justify using my seventy-five cents on the Carteret Sunday paper.
Maybe a little more focus on news and a little less emphasis on pushing a particular political view would get a few more subscribers for the News-Times. It might even earn them the right to use the cherished word, "Newspaper."
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