The North Coast Reporter
While on the subject of Humboldt County's Newspaper Wars, following is my letter to the editor that was published in the Humboldt Advocate, issue of June 23, 2006:
Dear Editor,
The front page of the June 15, 2006, issue of the North Coast Journal (NCJ) contained the headline, “OMG! Andrea Arnot is 40?!?”.
One would expect that headline on the front page of the Eureka Reporter (ER), not the NCJ. While Mrs. Arnot may be a very nice person, a birthday is hardly the stuff of a front-page headline and a big writeup in an ostensibly competing newspaper.
Certainly the Arkleys have contributed generously to the arts in Eureka. Their work with homeless animals is exemplary. But does that, coupled with the ownership of a (soon to be more?) newspaper, ordain that the only social life in Humboldt County involves the Arkleys’ friends, social circle, and causes?
Edward R. Murrow believed journalistic integrity meant something, that there were strict lines between the “news” and “entertainment” divisions. Those days are becoming relegated to nostalgia, George Clooney’s movie, and the alternative press. Today’s mainstream media increasingly serves only the bottom-line financial interests of its owners, sometimes morphing into mere propaganda organs. It is bad enough for Dateline NBC, a pseudo-news show, to promote its own with specials on programs from NBC’s entertainment division such as “Friends”. But the NCJ-ER cross-pollination is more akin to CBS News doing a “documentary” on ABC’s Disneyland.
Blurring of distinctions between “news”, “entertainment”, and “editorial” are certainly part and parcel of the “About Town” column, charming though it may be. While there are an abundance of photos of Rex Bohn, it will probably be a cold day in the netherworld before Chris Kerrigan appears more than rarely.
Does this new relationship between the old and the new foreshadow an addition to the embryonic Arkley media empire? What next, a formal “Merger Announcement”, along the lines of a birth announcement?
Sincerely,
Terry Lee Clark
Dear Editor,
The front page of the June 15, 2006, issue of the North Coast Journal (NCJ) contained the headline, “OMG! Andrea Arnot is 40?!?”.
One would expect that headline on the front page of the Eureka Reporter (ER), not the NCJ. While Mrs. Arnot may be a very nice person, a birthday is hardly the stuff of a front-page headline and a big writeup in an ostensibly competing newspaper.
Certainly the Arkleys have contributed generously to the arts in Eureka. Their work with homeless animals is exemplary. But does that, coupled with the ownership of a (soon to be more?) newspaper, ordain that the only social life in Humboldt County involves the Arkleys’ friends, social circle, and causes?
Edward R. Murrow believed journalistic integrity meant something, that there were strict lines between the “news” and “entertainment” divisions. Those days are becoming relegated to nostalgia, George Clooney’s movie, and the alternative press. Today’s mainstream media increasingly serves only the bottom-line financial interests of its owners, sometimes morphing into mere propaganda organs. It is bad enough for Dateline NBC, a pseudo-news show, to promote its own with specials on programs from NBC’s entertainment division such as “Friends”. But the NCJ-ER cross-pollination is more akin to CBS News doing a “documentary” on ABC’s Disneyland.
Blurring of distinctions between “news”, “entertainment”, and “editorial” are certainly part and parcel of the “About Town” column, charming though it may be. While there are an abundance of photos of Rex Bohn, it will probably be a cold day in the netherworld before Chris Kerrigan appears more than rarely.
Does this new relationship between the old and the new foreshadow an addition to the embryonic Arkley media empire? What next, a formal “Merger Announcement”, along the lines of a birth announcement?
Sincerely,
Terry Lee Clark
posted by TLC's Place at 9:46 PM
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