And speaking of front-page news today, the R-J decided to go huge with the silliness about Mojave Max v. Punxsutawney Phil. It was the top local story! I know from the comments on this post from yesterday that some of you find this matter charming and me a cynic for noting that it's a cheap publicity stunt in a city that doesn't really need them when we're treating lesbolicious kissing contests as legitimate business pursuits. But do you think it's the most important local news story of the day? Really?Why should the herb-growers get front-page treatment and not the sleepy turtle? Well, for one thing the front page of the Las Vegas Sun is really just the front of a section of the R-J and frequently offers up a quirky human-interest bit. So it's not endowing the topic with undue significance the way the front of the R-J does. And for another, it's a turtle that predicts weather in a city in which weather is essentially the same for months on end. So it's a turtle that doesn't actually do anything useful for anyone. The herb-growers, on the other hand, do.
2 comments:
It's local news; it isn't "suck in more tourists" propaganda. Girl-on-girl kissing, groundhog shadow-viewing, and herb-delivering to high-end, impossibly expensive restaurants designed specifically for tourists rather than locals are absolutely ordinary tourist news. Anything that has to do with nature, desert conservation, school children, or the weather out there is utterly appropriate for the front page of a little local newspaper.
I think.
I still say tortoises rock. So do herbs. Make room for both on the front page of a newspaper.
As for a possible competition between Mojave Max and the over-hyped groundhog, well, that's just boring. If that's really the tack that the newspaper took, then all I can do is yawn. I didn't see it as a competition. I thought it was just, you know, an article about a tortoise.
Any word yet on why the powers that be couldn't come up with a new name for the new spokestortoise?
is it just me, or does that story in the r-j seem to be reacting directly to steve's blog comments on this very topic? right down to the thing about the replacement Max? way to go!
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