One of the papers in my neck of the woods, the El Paso Times, endorsed Jughead Dumbya Botch, 4 times. Twice for gov, twice for Prez.
The editorial page editor is of the Grover Norquist breed of "I hate taxes" Republican. He cried crocodile tears over Molly Ivins last winter, even though he reduced her column's appearances in 2004 in honor of a Karl Rove fundraising visit, replacing her with that wide and deep vomitory of racist bile, Michelle Malkin.
In July 2003, they printed full color photos of the bloody corpses of Saddam's sons on the front page. No bastion of the almighty liberal media, they.
So where did they rate the Minnesota bridge collapse in the priorities of the day's news?
Page four. What was the banner headline? "Big rain, few problems"!
There is the context of the floods that hit El Paso a year ago this week. Nonetheless it was entirely historical in nature and was basically a "no news is good news" fluff piece. While the national media inflate local stories of missing white women, local media are largely reduced to cowering before their Republican sponsors - car dealers, real estate agents and mall owners. I can only imagine if it was terrorism, no amount of ink would have been enough to cover the front page with it. The result, whether by terrorism, misplaced priorities, or simple neglect, is still the same. People are dead.
Where did your paper rate the story? And what's their editorial stance? I'll bet there's a direct correlation.
Update: Not five minutes after I posted, the ABC affiliate just did a story about the El Paso Times altering photos. UTEP coach Mike Price was shown in two photos taken the same time and published about a week apart. The second photo was altered to delete the mike flags of TV stations that are not currently advertising with the paper. The publisher threatened legal action before backtracking and apologizing. Looks like the latest graduates of the Fox News school of journalism ethics just got their diplomas!!