News (Media Awareness Project) - CN ON: Editorial: Drug Bust Doesn't Rate Front Page |
| Title: | CN ON: Editorial: Drug Bust Doesn't Rate Front Page |
| Published On: | 2004-02-21 |
| Source: | Ingersoll Times (CN ON) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-18 20:40:07 |
DRUG BUST DOESN'T RATE FRONT PAGE
Notice the location of the story about last week's big drug bust. It's
on the page opposite, way back on page 5. Some people will think we
buried the news on purpose, but there was a conscious decision not to
run it on the front page. The item has received so much coverage, that
most people have already heard about it. We aren't the first to have
the story, so we won't pretend that we are.
The item is of wide-spread interest because it affects a large number
of people across a large area of the county, so we do have the story
regardless.
Fortunately, this week we were able to cover more good news stories
and feature them on the front page. These are legitimate news stories
that will catch people's eyes and draw them to read the paper. That is
what the front page is meant to do - draw people in. Whether the news
is good or bad, it is our job to show people what happened in their
community during any given week.
While we don't like to acknowledge it, bad things do happen in
communities all over the world. We can't ignore those things because
they play a large part in shaping our community. They show us how
people adapt and react and interact with each other. These things are
important.
Good news stories are always more appealing, but similar to the bad
news, these stories also show how people adapt, react and interact.
Newspapers are often accused of sensationalizing, of purposely putting
bad news items on the front in an attempt to sell papers. If a 'bad'
story is the most important story to readers that week, it will
certainly go on the front.
A newspaper is a mirror of its community, so as long as there are
people to read papers, there will be bad things happen and bad things
reported in the paper. But newspaper people are human, so we really
would rather write about good things.
Since the good things often go unnoticed, we rely on the support of
our readers to call in and tell us when someone is doing something
good. Call us at 485-3631 anytime and let us know.
- - Jennifer Vandermeer
Notice the location of the story about last week's big drug bust. It's
on the page opposite, way back on page 5. Some people will think we
buried the news on purpose, but there was a conscious decision not to
run it on the front page. The item has received so much coverage, that
most people have already heard about it. We aren't the first to have
the story, so we won't pretend that we are.
The item is of wide-spread interest because it affects a large number
of people across a large area of the county, so we do have the story
regardless.
Fortunately, this week we were able to cover more good news stories
and feature them on the front page. These are legitimate news stories
that will catch people's eyes and draw them to read the paper. That is
what the front page is meant to do - draw people in. Whether the news
is good or bad, it is our job to show people what happened in their
community during any given week.
While we don't like to acknowledge it, bad things do happen in
communities all over the world. We can't ignore those things because
they play a large part in shaping our community. They show us how
people adapt and react and interact with each other. These things are
important.
Good news stories are always more appealing, but similar to the bad
news, these stories also show how people adapt, react and interact.
Newspapers are often accused of sensationalizing, of purposely putting
bad news items on the front in an attempt to sell papers. If a 'bad'
story is the most important story to readers that week, it will
certainly go on the front.
A newspaper is a mirror of its community, so as long as there are
people to read papers, there will be bad things happen and bad things
reported in the paper. But newspaper people are human, so we really
would rather write about good things.
Since the good things often go unnoticed, we rely on the support of
our readers to call in and tell us when someone is doing something
good. Call us at 485-3631 anytime and let us know.
- - Jennifer Vandermeer
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