Badtux the Snarky Penguin

In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin.

Religious fundamentalists are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun -- and that this must be stopped.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Another one bites the dust

The San Jose Mercury News used to be a decent rag. As the flagship paper of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain they did some great reporting over the years, though they were often reluctant to stand behind it when they came under attack by the powers-that-be for reporting things TPTB did not want reported. Now, after being acquired by Denver-based MediaNews which in turned fired half their reporters and editors, the Murky News is reduced to reporting on cats that steal socks. On the front of section B (Local News), no less.

WTF?! Look, sock-stealing cats are cute and all, but on page B1?! That's the level of reporting I'd expect from the Benton(LA) Argonaut (population 2035), not from a major city daily! Is this what we're reduced to in the 30th largest metropolitan area in America? Stupid cat tricks?!

Crap, I might as well just cancel my subscription and subscribe to the San Francisco Chronic. The Chronic may not cover much San Jose news, but it seems that the Murky isn't going to cover it either, so I might as well subscribe to a real paper rather than what is, apparently, going to be just another small town bird cage liner...

-- Badtux the Newspaper Penguin

Labels: press

Posted by: BadTux / 7/16/2007 11:54:00 AM

Comments:

your post got me to wondering where all these reporters are going that are getting fired from all these newly acquired/merged newspapers? hummmm -- now that's one paper i'd like to read...
# posted by azgoddess : 16/7/07 1:52 PM

You still read newspapers? ;-)
# posted by Ole Blue The Heretic : 16/7/07 6:36 PM

I get all my news and views off of the web.
# posted by BBC : 16/7/07 7:31 PM

Our newspaper is good for nothing except fish wrap or garbage, but it's the only place that has any local news - our population 25,000.
# posted by sharecropper : 17/7/07 6:54 AM

I agree with BT. Cat stories and pictures in newspapers - bad. Cat stories and pictures on blogs - good.
# posted by Lurch : 17/7/07 8:27 AM

Sadly, sharecropper, the population of the circulation area of the Murky News is approximately 100 times that of your local fish wrap, but we probably get the same kind of local news that you do. Do you get cat stories on page B1 of your local paper too? (Hmm, if I remember last time I lived in such a town, often the cat stories appeared on page *A1*, heh!).

- Badtux the "Cats are furry, but NEWS?!" Penguin
# posted by BadTux : 17/7/07 8:27 AM

Lurch, I can tolerate cat stories if they're on the inside or "lifestyle" pages where they belong. But they decidedly do *not* belong on the front page of a supposed "news" section of a supposed major city daily newspaper.

And BTW, Blue, yes, I still read newspapers. If you read carefully, parsing it the way that Soviet citizens must have parsed Tass and Pravda back in the day, you can even begin to piece together a bit of what might really be happening. The reporters aren't allowed to directly report on what's really going on. But they certainly slide the truth in there sideways as best they can, hidden amongst the exaggerations and outright lies.

= Badtux the News Penguin
# posted by BadTux : 17/7/07 8:30 AM

I've got "The Contra Costa Times" - an absolute waste of wood pulp and soy ink.
# posted by TheCultureGhost : 17/7/07 8:42 AM

"If you read carefully, parsing it the way that Soviet citizens must have parsed Tass and Pravda back in the day, you can even begin to piece together a bit of what might really be happening."

Exactly. If you read between the lines, you will see the shadowy beginnings of the latest front in the GWOT: Suicide kitty-bombers.

First they steal clean socks. Then, when we are lulled into a false sense of security, WHAMMO, they begin stealing dirty sweatshops from Gold's Gym, engaging in the first bio-war attacks on Murkan soil.

TSA -- The Sock Administration -- is taking all appropriate steps to ensure that these kitty-suiciders are stopped there, so we don't have to stop them here.

(Now, if this had been Firestarter5's blog, I would have said something about TSA checking puss--- errr, KITTIES at the airports.)
# posted by andrew618 : 17/7/07 9:38 AM

Honor Roll

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Liberated Iraqis

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More to follow, after I finish cursing SOB chickenhawks and get my breath back...

"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." -- Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

-- Plato

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