The Arizona Daily Star has been running a slogan recently (one we’ve poked some fun with our own house ads) claiming that they’re “First. Best. Anytime. Anywhere”, which is the sort of statement that sounds it was stolen from a newscast, but hey, it’s an admirable goal for a journalistic outlet. After all, in a field where there is so much competition being timely, accurate and willing to go the distance for a story, that’s what has value.
However, seeing the story “Questions on Giffords’ recovery leave Dems empty for Senate run” on the bottom half of the front page today, I have a question: Can you be a daily newspaper in Tucson, wanting to be “first” and “best” and continue to farm out stories about Gabrielle Giffords, her recovery, and her political future to the Associated Press?
There’s nothing wrong with the article, by Kevin Freking, a political reporter based out of Washington, DC who covers the thirteen states of AP’s West Desk, but for a newspaper whose very existence is based on having value to local readers and subscribers wouldn’t it make some sense for a local reporter to provide insight into a local politican’s recovery and how it affects a statewide race? Freking might be a great guy, but I’d hope someone on the Star’s staff has a better perspective on Arizona politics than a guy assigned to cover thirteen states.
Obviously, there might be more to this, since I don’t have any particular insight into the working of the Star‘s newsroom, but I’d like to think as a media consumer that readers of the Star deserve a little more of the “best” they claim to offer.
This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2011.
I haven’t read the article, but maybe it’s the only way of getting an educated, neutral outside perspective on the insanity that is AZ politics. Just a thought.
Having been a member of that newsroom, I know this is more a matter of laziness and cheapness than anything else. With Andrea Kelly leaving to go to Arizona Public Radio, they’ve had to have their political reporter cover the state and the county, so national stuff gets ignored and handled by the AP. Of course, if this were a sports story, they’d have three reporters living outside Giffords’ residence, complete with a Scene and Heard column regarding the best fashion of nearby dog walkers.
TML618 and Anony are right on the money. The Star is getting its @$$ whopped by the AZ Republic on the Giffords story. Early on after Jan.8, they claimed they wanted to take the high road and not get into the “salacious” Jared Loughner details. Well, they ceded the story by doing so. Whenever there is a Giffords story on Twitter (ala Sunday, with the release of the photos), I head to azcentral. And I have a vested interest (read: retirement funds) in Lee/the Arizona Daily Star.