by David Safier The Star had to run a story about the fuss over Obama's upcoming education speech. That's a given. They gave it to Rhonda Bodfield, their education writer, who did her usual good job. As often happens, I wish she had introduced balance into the article earlier, mentioning those who think Obama's speech is just fine before the fifth paragraph, but she presented the stances on both sides clearly.
Based on newsworthiness, it should be a page 10 story. But the Star's editors decided to put it on page one, above the fold, right above a photo of a car crash, because they thought it would sell newspapers. And you don't sell newspapers with an honest headline like, "Some upset about Obama school talk," or "Right wing complains about Obama school talk." You need a screamer, like what they came up with:
Planned TV speech next week is decried as 'creepy' attempt to brainwash students
I don't blame Bodfield. She doesn't write her own headlines. I blame the editors. The headline is National Enquirer quality pulp journalism. Worse, it fans the flames of discord, trumpeting the right wing spin at the expense of the article's tone and information.
It's beneath contempt.
NOTE: To the satire-challenged, let me say my headline is a beneath-contempt parody of the Star's headline. I only mention this to avoid comments telling me I did the same thing I was critical of.
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Funny how just after the headline they had a big picture of first responders rescuing someone who is lying on the pavement. Maybe that was a coincidence too or, maybe it wasn’t.
Thane, did you bother to read my post before you commented? I said the article was pretty good and in terms of importance seems like a page 10 article which they put on the front page. Then I said the headline was sensationalistic, and to make my point, I suggested two more reasonable alternatives.
In what way is that asking the Star to ignore the issue?
Let me think… let’s see.. there is already discord out there and you think the solution is to ignore it.. (satirical comment) good luck with that.
Sometimes news is just that – news, not right wing spin.
It has never been the job of the media to ignore discontent because it doesn’t further the modern day liberal worldview. Today’s Arizona Daily Star is one fine example of reporting the news instead of slanting the news.