[Semi-cross-posted from
Oregon Media Insiders.]
Today's Oregonian ran a New York Times-written front page, but didn't include the entire article. This is the original, headlined "Troops cut death, but not fear, in Baghdad zone." The Oregonian's version, which does not appear on their website but only in today's print editions, is headlined "Seed of hope grows in one part of Baghdad." There's a bigger difference than just headline treatment, though, as one of my readers discovered.
One of my readers wrote me, saying:
The Oregonian cut from the bottom -- leaving out all the "bad news" about Dora -- like the fact the safety is temporary and locals still feel doomed. ...
...The Oregonian story ... left out facts like two roadside bombs, "police" taking away shopkeepers, ethnic cleansing in Dora, 81 bombs found recently in that district--89 month before--local general says he does not know who bad guys are so residents now have ID cards, and questions of there being enough US troops to keep peace in Dora." All facts an Oregonian reader would have missed since their version ended with the quote about "hope being at arms length"... that is some arm!!! Look at all the info after that quote.
Newspapers regularly "cut from the bottom" to fit a story to a space. This cut seems a little too convenient, though. It changes the entire story, and even the headline focus is different. I wouldn't say the O is a notorious right-wing mouthpiece--far from it, it is after all the "paper of record" for notorious left-wing bastion Portland, Oregon. But I would say that they toe a certain line, and that right-wing feedback very probably drives at least some of the editorial decisions there. This looks like a pretty good example.
Very often journalists say to themselves, and each other, "Well, both sides are yelling at us so we must be doing a good job." God knows I said that very line back when I was in the biz. That's not good enough any more. That's no indicator at all of good coverage; it's just indicates that "both" sides, like there are only two, can yell. Problem is, the "other" side has been yelling loudest for a long time now, and yet papers seem to be deaf in their LEFT ear. Strange.