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news & notes
By briantologist | November 11, 2008
My esteemed colleague Jon sent me a link to this story: Apparently the Sapulpa Daily Herald, based out of the selfsame western semi-suburb of Tulsa, kind of didn’t think it was that big a deal that the United States elected its first black president.
The story is here, but I want you to take a look at this image of the page as it appeared this morning.
There’s a lot to say about this, and it’s hard to know which way to go. First, an elephant in the room: Tulsa’s record on race relations is maybe not so hot. Obviously it’s come a long way since the days of widespread rioting, but it’s still an extremely racially segregated city, and let’s just say there aren’t a lot of people of color in Sapulpa, unless the color you’re referring to happens to be a sort of pale pink.
Second, technically the guy has a point: It’s not like the election wasn’t maybe on one or two television stations and the entire Internet all at once. Probably there aren’t a tremendous number of people who waited for their Sapulpa Daily Herald to see who won that whole Presidential Election thing we’ve heard like one or two things about over the last 24 months.
And yet, that doesn’t really matter. We’ve got a new goddamn president, people. The least you can do is put a picture on the damn front page. Or a graphic. Something. I’m not gonna stand here and shout “LAZY JOURNALISM! LAZY JOURNALISM!,” as this was not laziness but an editorial decision. A dumb editorial decision, but a decision nonetheless.
I’m less certain what to think of this where racism is concerned. Racism lurks in a lot of dark, ugly corners, and Oklahoma has more than its share of them. But I can’t help but think that blatant partisanship is at the very least a close runner-up to any lingering racial hatred in this case. Let’s not forget the Oklahoma electoral map, one of perhaps two that turned up solid red, county-by-county.
However, there’s one final point I’d like to bring up. If you haven’t already, please have a look at the above snapshot of the page the story displayed on. Above the headline — some might say dominating the page — you’ll notice a deep red banner that reads “News Alert: Celene Dion reschedules show at BOK Center.” The story then proceeds to posit that the Sapulpa Daily Herald may be practicing shoddy journalism.
I’m just gonna let that bit speak for itself.
Topics: Baffled Mutterings, NaBloPoMo | 1 Comment »
November 12th, 2008 at 2:01 am
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