Here’s why. Twenty years ago, it would have taken days or weeks for an investigative reporter to identify and obtain relevant background reading for a particular story. And your average mid 1980s Post reader probably wouldn’t have learned about similar coverage, whether in a competitor or in the alternative press, unless the Post deigned to mention it. Today, though, reporters can do background research in a matter of seconds; the general public can google its way to related reading in about the same time; and aggregators like Romenesko and Media Bistro make it easier for slighted outlets like Salon to stake their claim for an industry-wide audience. (I learned about Salon’s Walter Reed coverage on Editor & Publisher’s Web site, for example.) In other words, on several levels, the illusion of stand-alone reporting just doesn’t hold up like it used to.
That being the case, what’s the best response? Here’s an easy answer: if a publication advances a story that was first explored in depth by another media outlet, a brief reference to the former story could be folded into the latter one — before or after the jump — along with an explanation of how the second story goes beyond the first. Aesthetically, though, this solution isn’t very satisfying; this kind of disclaimer would have undermined the undeniable power of Priest and Hull’s Walter Reed coverage, for example.
Other approaches might work better. A sidebar or editor’s note could acknowledge significant prior work on the subject in question, and explain how the new story went further, say. (Presumably, this is something reporters and editors are already thinking about.) Or, even easier: online postings of stories could offer links for additional reading, and even solicit more suggestions from readers. Whatever the solution, one thing is certain: the information is out there — and it’s the press’s job to give the public more of it, not less.
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Martha Coakley told opponents of same-sex marriage this past week she would use the full force of her new office to fight their efforts.
- Ground game
Forget Deval Patrick’s 5000-person rally on Boston Common last weekend. A humbler event that took place a few days earlier — an October 11 community meeting in Quincy — offers keener insight into the Patrick-campaign ethos.
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Nobody around here forgets that Deval Patrick swiped the gubernatorial nomination from the establishment-backed Tom Reilly.
- Plogging away
When asked about the Internet, most political candidates will dutifully tell you that it’s the wave of the future, or the wave of the present, or the greatest thing since chocolate-chip bagels, or … zzzzzz … wake me when baseball’s post-season starts.
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After 16 years of Republican rule, it is time to return a Democrat and a leader with a sense of humanity to the governor’s office. It is in that spirit — and for other reasons as well — that we urge voters next week to vote for Deval Patrick.
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At a recent political event, Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino asked Robert Crane, the former long-time state treasurer, how many years he had held that office.
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Deval Patrick has been the subject of a string of daily newspaper stories that, if taken together, suggest Patrick was a tool of giant corporate interests and a hypocrite for running his once insurgent campaign under a progressive banner.
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When Deval Patrick’s landslide win in Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary gets parsed in the coming days, much attention will be paid to the formidable organization Patrick built in cities and towns across Massachusetts. Slideshow: Deval Patrick on Primary night, September 19, 2006
- Power hungry?
It’s remarkable how dramatically the state’s political leadership has changed since the most recent Constitutional Convention.
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Topics:
Media -- Dont Quote Me
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