Irony Unnoticed
Did the editors at The Tennessean not see the rich irony in this?
The entire left hand column of the front page of today's paper is devoted to a story on --seriously -- a local company that received free advertising.
I'm not kidding.
The writer of the article is identified in the byline as Bryan Mullen, who is described as a staff writer for the newspaper. That is helpful, as the reader might have otherwise thought he was a PR coordinator for SeeMore Putter Company, a Brentwood based firm thrilled that its product was shown repeatedly over the weekend in the hands of Zach Johnson, the winner at the Masters golf tournament.
Nearly every word of the story is devoted to the facts that the company received free media advertising and that the owners are thrilled about it.
Of course, a legitimate news story could have been done on a company that found itself in this fortuitous situation. A story could have mentioned the television coverage before reporting on how they came to have a relationship with Mr. Johnson, the background of the company, the financial history of the company and their goals for the future, how they market their products, the background of the owners (one sentence is devoted to this in today's story), or any number of other related matters. The story would have belonged in the Business section. If it were well-written, it might even go on the front page of that section.
I should add that The Oracle has no journalism education or experience. However, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once. I am also looking for a job, should anyone be interested.
The entire left hand column of the front page of today's paper is devoted to a story on --seriously -- a local company that received free advertising.
I'm not kidding.
The writer of the article is identified in the byline as Bryan Mullen, who is described as a staff writer for the newspaper. That is helpful, as the reader might have otherwise thought he was a PR coordinator for SeeMore Putter Company, a Brentwood based firm thrilled that its product was shown repeatedly over the weekend in the hands of Zach Johnson, the winner at the Masters golf tournament.
Nearly every word of the story is devoted to the facts that the company received free media advertising and that the owners are thrilled about it.
Of course, a legitimate news story could have been done on a company that found itself in this fortuitous situation. A story could have mentioned the television coverage before reporting on how they came to have a relationship with Mr. Johnson, the background of the company, the financial history of the company and their goals for the future, how they market their products, the background of the owners (one sentence is devoted to this in today's story), or any number of other related matters. The story would have belonged in the Business section. If it were well-written, it might even go on the front page of that section.
I should add that The Oracle has no journalism education or experience. However, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once. I am also looking for a job, should anyone be interested.
posted by MCO at 8:15 AM
2 Comments:
I can't help with the job, but you're right that the story needed more depth and focus. Good call.
Ah, but you have a journalistic bent, so that disqualifies you from working at a present-day newspaper. Good luck.
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