MOSHE PHILLIPS: THE ROYAL WEDDING AND THE WAR ON TERROR
The April 28, 2011 Metro Philadelphia edition contained an article about the murder of nine Americans in the Kabul airport. The two paragraph article was 94 word Reuters it was on page eight. There were no photos. The headline read “Americans shot dead.”
By contrast Metro Philadelphia ran a half page on the British royal wedding. There were two full color photos and the various components of the Reuters feature ran to over 350 words. The four column wide headline read “William and Kate hold final rehearsals.”
What is worth emphasizing here is that Metro Philadelphia is probably be read by more Philadelphians on any given weekday than any other newspaper. It should be noted that The Philadelphia Inquirer ran the story about the Kabul attack on page one on April 28. It was below the fold, but it was still there on page one.
The three U.S. editions of Metro when combined have a larger circulation than The Washington Post or the Chicago Tribune. Metro’s newspapers are free and aimed mainly at a commuter audience that uses mass transit. This is largely due in part to the questionable agreements between public mass transit agencies and Metro. Gannett and other two other newspaper companies tried to legally block the distribution of Metro throughout Philadelphia’s SEPTA tranist system back in 2000. It is not uncommon to see a large majority of print newspaper readers on a bus or train in one of Metro’s American cities reading the commuter paper rather than a traditional paid daily.
This specific case with the Kabul story is more than simply bad judgment or an example of inexperienced editors. There is something else at work here. The phrase “dumbing down of America” comes to mind. What we have here is the “focusing away from America.” It should have been far more important to provide American newspaper readers with information about U.S. soldiers killed in a war zone than a wedding in London that had not happened yet.
On April 29 Metro Philadelphia did not contain any mention of the Kabul murders. Space was given however for an eight page feature on the British royal wedding and the story was featured on two-thirds of the cover as well.
The March 4, 2011 cover story of Entertainment Weekly featured a photo of Prince William and his then fiancée and stated “YOU ARE INVITED TO A MEDIA FRENZY!” and a sub-headline that read “How Hollywood, Publishers & the Networks Are Battling to Cash in on THE WEDDING OF THE CENTURY.”
Anyone who looked at cable news outlets on April 28 or April 29 so just how right Entertainment Weekly was. It should be clear that the problem is more than just Metro. But there is no excuse for a half page about the royal wedding and a one column by 2.75 inch article about the death of American soldiers. American soldiers deserve better.
Postscript:
For more on this Metro see my 2010 article here http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/phillips/101207 and my 2008 article.
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