When does a commercial promotion, or a publicity stunt for that matter, become a legitimate news event? Editors had to give that question some serious reflection this past week as several readers complained that The Bee missed what they believed was a significant local news event.
Numerous people complained that The Bee ignored last Saturday’s “Human Flag” promotion at Cal Expo. The event was staged by a popular Sacramento talk radio station, KFBK, and extensively promoted on the air; it attracted several thousand folks.
People who participated said they were impressed by the show of unity and patriotism. Local television stations covered it extensively. The Bee did not.
On Sunday one reader sent in an e-mail to question the lack of any coverage. She was disappointed and offered this observation, “It is sad that The Bee chose not to cover such an uplifting event.” One other reader called that day with essentially the same message.
Monday more calls and messages began to arrive.
A reader sent this e-mail: “I note that The Bee’s motto is ‘Life, Captured Daily.’ An event like this one most certainly should have been something of interests to your readers and the community.” He was understanding and polite, but surprised that no story or photo appeared in the newspaper.
By midweek several dozen people had expressed their disappointment.
One reader suggested The Bee should have covered the event, at least with a photographer, but he felt the newspaper also should have reported on other issues involved.
“Where is the criticism of KFBK for capitalizing on a tragedy for a bit of self-promotion, which, in effect, that flag project was? The station was still hyping it Monday morning and encouraging listeners to phone in and gush about how wonderful it was.”
Bee’s response
Managing Editor Joyce Terhaar was not present when the weekend coverage decision was made, but responded for the news staff.
“My understanding from the Metro desk is that this was a radio event. We don’t usually cover their promotions.”
There were other considerations for The Bee.
Terhaar explained, “…I think that anyone looking at the paper regularly will know we have had plenty of stories and photographs about or depicting the flag. We are walking a fine line in terms of reporting the news and not going overboard with flags. Tough as it is in times like this, our job is not to be a cheerleader, but rather to inform, illuminate, question, analyze. That role becomes even more critical as leaders talk of war, work to change laws that affect civil rights and change spending priorities at the national level.”
Self-promotion or news?
I believe the “Human Flag” event probably was a self-serving event sponsored by the talk radio station. But, that was not necessarily a bad thing. Lots of people gave their time, and money was apparently raised for a good cause.
Activities were heavily promoted and discussed by the station’s announcing staff, and at midweek it was still being promoted on their red, white and blue Website, where they plan to sell copies of photographs of the event to raise more money for charity.
But The Bee should have reported the event anyway.
Several Bee readers who saw extensive television coverage wondered why The Bee didn’t also see it as newsworthy.
Simply put, the newspaper’s decisions about news value differ from television stations’ decisions. This was a perfect-for-television event: colorful, patriotic and falling on a slow news day.
And it was a very slow news day locally, according to The Bee’s pages. Your Sunday morning paper of Sept. 30 did not report a single local news event on Page 1 or on the front of the Metro section. Not much actually happened in Sacramento that Saturday, according to The Bee.
Only two Saturday news events, other than sports, were covered in that day’s newspaper: the death of a shooting victim and a “Children’s Book Celebration,” held at Fairytale Town. That promotional event was attended by 1,400 people and sponsored in part by The Bee, Parents Monthly Magazine and Fox 40 Kids Club.
Events as news
Managing Editor Terhaar is correct about the fine line the newspaper needs to walk to remain detached and balanced. I believe The Bee has generally done that well in the past few weeks. People on all sides of the current discussion of national issues have been given plenty of attention and space, no matter how much it irritates a few people who disagree.
But The Bee should have been present to report on what happened in the next morning’s editions. It was a news event worth covering.
Several thousand local people got together to express thanks for local fire and rescue folks, raise money for victims and express patriotism and unity.
The paper covers other promotional events — The Bee’s Kids Day charity event at midweek is one example — and I think that is acceptable so long as there is legitimate public interest in the event.
If it was shameless jingoism and commercial flag-waving, as one reader suggested, the newspaper could have dug up those facts and reported that element as well.
The Bee recently published a full-page reproduction of the flag and encouraged people to display it as an expression of community unity. That did not seem to hurt the newspaper’s ability to independently report the news or comment on public affairs.
The flag gathering was the biggest thing happening in the community that day and deserved some attention from the newspaper.
I don’t blame editors for being wary of any radio stations’ promotional events. But sometimes journalists simply have to look past the hype and tell readers what happened.
Still sensitive
Bee readers still reflect sensitivity about anything that might be seen as inappropriate in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
The B.C. comic strip was criticized last week by several readers for making a joke about death, specifically depicting in the comic the impression a falling body makes on the ground. The humor was in the typical style of the Roadrunner cartoons and was drawn before events of Sept. 11.
Not many people thought it was funny, including, in hindsight, the artist.
The Creators Syndicate, which publishes the comic, said they flagged the strip as being potentially offensive and offered a substitute to newspapers and to agencies which assemble comic pages for most newspapers. The message that it was offensive and a substitute was available never got to The Bee’s feature department, or to very many other newspapers.
Johnny Hart, the artist, apologized later, “We tried to see that it wouldn’t be printed at all, and can offer only our sincere regrets that it did.” Some other comics are dealing in a direct way with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. One comic strip father became a hero to his child by donating blood. A Doonesbury character decided to take up a new career as a firefighter. Boondocks’ leading character announced he would remain cynical of governments, past and present.
The sensitivity meter is still turned up high.
Data are conclusive
Finally, the word “data” appeared in this column last week seven times. At least that many Bee readers called to say that the seventh occurrence used the incorrect verb tense, singular, when we all know that the word “data” is plural.
“Datum,” which I avoided like a clich, is the singular form.
Consider me set straight.
