Newspapers regularly expose urban legends, those great stories that have a grain of truth, but are total fiction.
A recent example is the story that there was shark-fishing taking place before the boy was bitten by a shark in the Panhandle. As the Pensacola News-Journal wrote, there is no evidence of any sort for that story being spread over the Internet.
By the same token, there are urban legends surrounding newspapers, too. Many of them have grains of truth, but are exaggerated or distorted. So in the interest of fairness, completeness and accuracy, here are some of them:
* “You only ran that story to sell newspapers.”
Grain of Truth: Of course, newspapers want to sell papers. The more papers a newspaper sells, the higher the advertising rates.
The Big Picture: Most stories in the newspaper have absolutely no impact on sales. In fact, the only stories that could possibly affect sales would be those on the top half of the front page. Those are the only ones that people see in racks.
* Myth: “You’re a conservative paper.”
Grain of Truth: That’s a fair description of the editorials, the unsigned opinion columns that represent the corporate stance of the newspaper.
The Big Picture: The news department is separated both literally and figuratively from the editorial writers. When problems occur with news stories, they aren’t due to marching orders from the editorial page.
* Myth: “You’re part of the liberal media.”
Grain of Truth: This newspaper uses wire service stories from The Washington Post and The Associated Press and other sources that some readers say are liberal. There are positive stories about gays. Some readers object when there are photos of blacks.
The Big Picture: To say the Times-Union is part of the liberal media is using a broad brush. The truth, as usual, falls somewhere in the middle. Most journalists fall into a moderate range politically. One observer said that journalists tend to be economically conservative and socially liberal.
* Myth: “You’re a monopoly. You don’t have any competition.”
Grain of Truth: The Times-Union is the only major metropolitan paper with significant circulation in this area.
The Big Picture: When it comes to advertising revenue, there has never been fiercer competition. TV, radio, suburban papers, shoppers, direct mail and the Internet are competing for media dollars once controlled by newspapers. As far as news goes, the Times-Union remains the most comprehensive source for local news. But some readers are content with what they receive on TV or on the Internet.
Mixing your brews
Jacksonville is home to an Anheuser-Busch brewery. Several readers, including a man involved in making the cans for this beverage, noticed an apparent contradiction in Tuesday’s front-page story on the political in-fighting in Welaka. “Red Bubba” Sawyer was holding a 12-ounce Budweiser in the photo, but the story said he was holding a 16-ounce Old Milwaukee. How could this be? Answer: The photographer and the reporter visited the man at different times. Someone involved in the editing process probably should have clarified it. By the way, journalists know the difference between the two brands.
