* Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto recently commented on feedback about newspapers’ seeming penchant for “bad news.” Steve said it was more balanced than is generally acknowledged, but at any rate let’s not “blame the messenger.”
Personally, I’ve always liked the late Walter Cronkite’s answer to criticism about the media’s (seeming) preoccupation with “bad news.” Cronkite responded: “Most viewers are not interested in all the cats that did not get stuck in trees today.”
It’s true. The uncrashed plane and the unbribed judge are not “news.” But there’s a thin line between relevantly informing readers and viewers and lustily pandering to the least common denominator. There are reasons why “If it bleeds, it leads” still resonates.
* If ever there was a time for the media to forego its habit of interchanging “not guilty” with “innocent,” it was the John Edwards trial.
* It was a feisty week for the Tampa Tribune in its uphill competition with the Tampa Bay Times. First came a Trib front-page story on Bern’s Steak House that was a counterpoint response to a recent unflattering Bern’s piece by the Times. It was over the degree to which Bern’s utilizes its farm, which is now relocating to a new site, and its commitment to “farm-fresh organic produce.” The upshot, including a bit of embarrassment over unflattering publicity for the iconic restaurant, is that (owner) David Laxer’s menu note has now been tweaked to read, in part: “… we grow what we can on our own farm, organically, without pesticides or other toxic materials.”
A couple of days later, the Trib did a front-page piece on the non-profit Poynter Institute for Media Studies, the parent organization of the closely-held, for-profit Times. The story on the renowned Poynter is that it’s scurrying for financial help, and can no longer rely on the Times, which like most newspapers, is looking for ways to cut back.
Both stories included references to Times personnel who either did not return calls and emails or declined to comment. For obvious reasons, media don’t like coverage subjects who don’t call them back or won’t talk on or off the record. They, therefore, take a perverse delight in letting readers know that. It’s no less perversely delightful when they can note that about a competitor.
* Much was made this week over Johan Santana throwing the first no-hitter in the 51-year history of the New York Mets. But the accomplishment was accompanied by some controversy. An umpire missed a call that would have given the St. Louis Cardinals a hit. While the players responded with a “that’s baseball” attitude, some New York and St. Louis media outlets were hardly studies in equanimity. The back page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch flippantly declared: “No-Hitter*.” The New York Daily News fired back with: “Kiss Our Asterisk.”
Seemingly lost in the partisan exchange: Better use of instant replay would have settled it on the spot.