by David Safier
Here's today's coverage from the Star.
Big headline on the first page, second section:
Tiny headline, second item, Political Briefs, on a middle page, front section:
To recap: Partisan criticism of Michelle Obama's vacation to Spain (isn't there some kind of a rule about not going after the First Lady or the children?) is BIG NEWS. Goddard's criticism of Arizona's reliance on private prisons, based on the recent prison break and the murders which followed, backed up by Democratic legislators and the state Democratic Party, is small potatoes — who cares?
More on the Michelle Obama story:
The higher ups at the Star really, really hate Obama. The only thing they seem to hate more is what the paper once referred to in a headline as "Obamacare." It's the only time I've seen that phrase in a headline used by what is supposed to be a genuine daily newspaper.
Look at the headline written by the Star's Creative Headline Writing Team one more time:
First lady home: criticism burns on
The Star is the only paper in the known world to use that headline. Most everyone else using the identical story went with:
Critics Rain On Spain Getaway For First Lady
Notice the lighter touch in the generally used headline? It almost sounds like the "critics" might be unfair to rain on Michelle's vacation. The Star is clearly having none of that lightness, or even the possibility of criticizing the critics.
I googled the Star headline. I found one website that picked it up. The website's name:
No, I'm not kidding. The site compiles every ugly Obama story it can find, and it chose to link to the Star version of the story, because it likes the work of the Star's Creative Headline Writing Team. The "Bastard Obama" website couldn't have done too much better if it had written the headline itself.
If the Star higher ups had any shame, they would be ashamed of themselves. But they don't. They're on a mission to trash Obama and the new health care legislation.
Meanwhile, up the highway a bit, the Republic gave a bit more coverage to the possible problems with the way Arizona deals with prisons and prisoners. It has an editorial,
The Republic also has a decent sized article,
Come on, decision makers at the Star. Don't you feel just a little bit of shame? Just a little bit?