Journalism 101
Wow. Just wow. This is today's New York Times front page:
Yesterday, the Justice Department announced the arrest of three individuals and the search for a fourth in connection with a plot to destroy jet fuel tanks and fuel pipelines at JFK Airport.
That story is not on the front page.
Where did the Times put that story? If you guessed A37, you'd be right -- and you'd have cheated.
I've often wondered how the mainstream media would've played the news of the 9/11 terror attacks if they had been thwarted. Where would the stories appear when law enforcement officials announced the arrests of 19 men who had planned on taking over four jets using boxcutters? I tend to think that the story probably would've run on A3 with a little bit of snark and snickers.
Because 9/11 never happened, perhaps the naivete could've been excused -- or at least understandable.
But 9/11 did happen. Nearly 3,000 people did die.
And with that history, with that past, it takes a denial of reality fueled by Bush Derangement Syndrome to come to the conclusion that news of a serious plot by serious terrorists that could have resulted in hundreds of deaths belongs on A37. Scanning through the newspaper front pages over at the Newseum, I found only a handful of papers (Anchorage Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle) whose [lack of] news judgement matched that of the Times. Frankly, you may even be able to excuse some of these west coast papers from putting the terror plot story on A1, because they're 3,000 miles from that airport. JFK is in New York!
Maybe if I smash my skull with a cinderblock I'll be able to figure out why "After Sanctions, Doctors Get Drug Company Pay," "In a New India, an Old Industry Buoys Peasants" and "Fingers That Keep the Most Treasured Violins Fit" are more front page worthy than a terror plot in your own backyard.
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I was surprised too! Found your post while looking to see if anyone else had noticed that. I too, noticed, on the Newseum site that the Washington Post and L.A. Times both had it on Page 1, as did the other New York papers -- Newsday, Daily News, Post, etc. You're right. Wow.