Just as I was about to put away one of the articles I had cited in yesterday’s blog post (below), something worth noting caught my eye. Appearing just below the “Hero in Heart Attack Hogs the Fame” (Newsday, Oct. 15, 1998) article, I happened to notice this headline: “Hot Dog! Free Eats at Yankee Rally Today” (by staff writer Liz Willen).
This article reports on a planned City Hall pep rally in honor of the New York Yankees — one of New York City’s two Major League baseball teams — that will include, among other things, one thousand free hot dogs. Isn’t it rather poor taste to put that story right below a heartwarming story about a pet pig that saved it’s owner’s life?
But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. One of the things I’ve sometimes thought about doing (though I don’t see much of a market for this service) is advertise as a newspaper consultant (newspapers being one of my passions). I have a several-inches thick pile of articles I’ve saved over the years, that for one reason or another, I’ve found to be good examples of what I usually term “poor” or “incurious journalism.” What I describe above, however, isn’t such a good example of this, since I would have to think that the articles must’ve been placed together for a reason (and not as mere coincidence), such as to spark conversation or thought.