Why Talk Radio is largely conservative - (Was: Howie Carr, etc. etc. etc)

[Sean Smyth]

On Tue, 7/22/08, Don A <donald_astelle@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Recently I saw this headline:
> 
> Globe: "Teachers test scores are still low."
> 
> Herald: "Teachers test scores see some
> improvement."
> 
> Same story, same facts, same test score.  What's the
> difference?  The 
> perspective of the writer.

Not necessarily. The perspective of the copy desk -- they're the ones who write the headlines -- also matters. See the varying headlines papers slap on the same Associated Press story for an example.

As Garrett said, desks are nearly non-existent at some papers and thin as anything at bigger papers such as the Globe, basically just there to make sure the paper doesn't get sued and get rid of egregious spelling mistakes -- and put together the paper. Hence some stories are not getting the thorough reads that they should. When The Wall Street Journal announced cutbacks last week, guess who was targeted? Copy editors -- they want to get rid of 50 of 'em.

(Yes, I'm a newspaper copy editor, so I am not neutral on this topic.)