My local paper is the Orange County Register in Southern California. I am sure it's pretty comparable to any hometown fish wrap.
Every morning when the newspaper hits my doorstep it is full of news that everyone already knows about. In fact, the news in the OC Register is as much as 24 hours old. News information that we read the night before immediately on the internet or that was SMS'd to my iPhone the second it happened.
How the OC Register stays in business is anyone's guess. They print on paper which is wasteful, their news is outdated, and their articles are grossly exaggerated if not completely incorrect.
Let's take this last Sunday's paper (10/12/09) for example. On the front page of the "Local" section of the OC Register there was an article titled:
SWAP MEET CROWDS THIN
It's an article stating that the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa is hurting do to the bad economy. I admit that the economy has affected all areas of the world, but this article is grossly exaggerated. Everyone knows the best deals are at the swap meets and when times are tough people head out there to save their hard earned dollars.
So the OC Register prints a picture of a kid at a produce stand selling avocados. In this photo, they try to make it look like the produce stand has no customers.
First of all, if you knew anything about this produce stand, you would know that the kid in the picture only comes to the produce stand during the last hour of the day right before closing. He bargains the last few produce items before they close up for the day. To make their story look legit, the OC Register takes a picture at closing time. Nice job guys. That's top notch reporting.
Here are pictures near that same produce stand the next day when this particular article came out. Yeah. This place looks like a ghost town. NOT!
To really pour on the lies, the OC Register interviews one of the vendor at the Orange County Market Place. The vendor they strategically choose to interview sells beaded furniture covers. Yes! You heard me; beaded furniture covers. NO WONDER SALES ARE HORRIBLE. NO ONE USES BEADED FURNITURE COVERS. I can't even imagine buying beaded furniture covers as a gift. I don't think I hate anyone that much.
Wonder why they didn't interview Papa Dan's Beef jerky, or "The Best Barbeque Sauce You'll Ever Taste?" I will tell you why. Because they are still doing good sales and that would have ruined this horrific newspaper article.
Thank God for the internet. It gives real honest people a change to speak out on companies like the OC Register and prove them wrong. It let's us shine the light on the cock roaches of the world and watch them scatter.
I subscribe only to the OC Register Sunday edition. I do this so my wife can have the Sunday ads. The OC Register is hurting so bad, they called me recently to offer me the rest of the week for FREE!!!! Wow. That's embarrassing. I would have at least asked for a penny.
The writing is on the wall so let me give a tip to the OC Register. Stop writing lies. Stop wasting trees. Shut your doors with dignity while you can.
If you'd like to express your concerns for this article not being true to form please contact the writer of the article: 714.445.6604 or at epak@ocregister.com
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
THE END OF NEWSPAPERS AS WE KNOW IT
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1 comment:
If you have ever actually been involved in a story the local newspaper decided to print, you probably are aware that the function of a newspaper is not so much to inform as to entertain. And I don't mean "entertain," as in good, wholesome fun. I mean it in the sense that when, after waiting in line for a half hour to get to a gruesome wreck on the highway, as you are finally passing it, you have to look, if only to see what has been holding you up.
It's worse than the movies you've seen about television reporters who take snippets of the footage they get, and turn it around so the subject of their attention seems to be saying something they never intended. With newspaper reporters, there is no footage. All they have to do is write exciting fiction; no clever editing required.
Over the course of my life, I have been intimately involved with several stories that wound up in the newspaper. One of them was nearly accurate. You see, a reporter gets sent out to cover a story, and their boss expects that reporter to come back with a story. Even if the subject of that story tells them to piss off. So, they come back with a story, even if they have to make it up.
The people who read the local newspaper and scoff at the people who buy the National Enquirer should probably re-evaluate things a bit. The local paper may seem more plausible, but when it comes to actual truth, it is probably as full of fiction as the tabloid that talks about alien abductions and Elvis sightings.
This has been going on for decades; a recent inaccurate article is certainly no surprise. However, if you are wise, you will learn to expect entertainment value to trump truth in any of the news media. Entertainment sells, truth is boring.
And if you think I am too cynical, would you be interested in some lakefront property in the Mohave? I just happen to have a friend who is selling some, cheap.
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