Getting tired of looking for the scores of the American and National League playoff games on the Brownsville Herald and finding a prediction (with a question mark at the end) instead?
You know, a caption under a baseball photo like, "Will Yankees wrap up league pennant race?"
Knowing as we do that the paper is being printed in McAllen and then trucked to Brownsville, any chance of getting late night scores, lottery results, or coverage of night meetings at the BISD, BND, PUB, etc., is out of the question.
The only answer to getting stale news two days after the event would be for the daily to become an afternoon paper again.
That's not as bad as it may seem. If pushed to choose between getting no news in the morning paper and getting the them just a few hours later, it's a sure bet most readers would choose the latter.
The Herald used to be an afternoon paper and did just fine. Many people in the Cameron County courthouse would await the delivery (by Pipe) in their offices, and newsboys (and a few girls) would pour out of the mail room after school at about 3:30 p.m. and hawk their copies all around town.
There they would read the latest from the likes of James Pinkerton, Bob Rivard, cartoonist Anton, Dave Handleman, (yes, even Jerry McHale) etc., and the rest of the newspapermen (and women) who have walked through the newsroom.
It made a buck since it was, and still is, the only game in town.
Right now the old rag is looking like a bad imitation of the San Antonio Express, but with all the gimmicks and none of the substance. Whether you like the editorial line or not, a city the size of Brownsville needs a daily whether it's a morning or afternoon edition.
Then, maybe we could work on actually delivering in the story what you promise in the headline. Take for example Friday's front-page headline about the feds arresting hundreds of members of La Familia cartel. The subhead states that there was a Brownsville man involved in the roundup. But lo and behold, the suspect isn't even named in the article. It's not like he wouldn't know the feds are after him. We'd sure like to know who it is just in case it's someone we know.
How about the story about new jobs for the shipbreakers at the port? Apparently, the diversion of a ghost fleet from San Francisco to Brownsville will result in hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs here. But while the subhead states that a local shipbreaker will be the recipient of the ships, there is no indication of what company at the port will be getting the ships. Why?
Given our dire economic situation, a story like this would merit front-page coverage, and not be relegated to the inside pages. Maybe the people at the paper don't realize the levels of unemployment outside the newsroom.
1 comment:
Of all the people mentioned above only Pipe has reached historical/legendary/iconic status.
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