In what should have been a major headline in every paper across the country, Georgia's Rockdale Citizen newspaper appears to have almost committed a crime. The paper placed Obama's accomplishment of winning the election below the fold and with what seems to be smallest head count on the entire front page.
In response to the criticism the paper has received in blogs and from the public, the Rockdale responds, "When our readers went to bed Tuesday night, they knew that Obama had been elected their next president. What they did not know was who had been elected commission chairman [...] elected sheriff [...] elected to the board of education [...] elected clerk of courts and [...] elected to the board of commissioners. Our responsibility is to serve our readers, and those stories comprised the news package that led our front page."
What's surprising is that the editorial continues on to explain that none of the blogs commenting on the issue bothered to call the paper and ask why they formatted the front page as they did.
Had readers known the paper's focus to begin with, maybe there would not have been as much criticism as there currently is. I find this disheartening. It's an instance where as much as bloggers want to be thought of credible journalists, they received wind of a story and ran to publish it. Or maybe I'm being harsh, because it's the blogs that are criticizing the paper. Either way, a majority of us are quick to judge and some favor newspaper journalism over blogging.
In response to the criticism the paper has received in blogs and from the public, the Rockdale responds, "When our readers went to bed Tuesday night, they knew that Obama had been elected their next president. What they did not know was who had been elected commission chairman [...] elected sheriff [...] elected to the board of education [...] elected clerk of courts and [...] elected to the board of commissioners. Our responsibility is to serve our readers, and those stories comprised the news package that led our front page."
What's surprising is that the editorial continues on to explain that none of the blogs commenting on the issue bothered to call the paper and ask why they formatted the front page as they did.
Had readers known the paper's focus to begin with, maybe there would not have been as much criticism as there currently is. I find this disheartening. It's an instance where as much as bloggers want to be thought of credible journalists, they received wind of a story and ran to publish it. Or maybe I'm being harsh, because it's the blogs that are criticizing the paper. Either way, a majority of us are quick to judge and some favor newspaper journalism over blogging.
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