Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A few notes on The Daily Item

David A. Young had a strong letter about the Thruway published in The Daily Item on Monday. He suggested that the Susquehanna Valley needs the Thruway more than the Wal-Mart HQ in Arkansas needs a wider driveway paid for with federal money ($35 million was appropriated but not yet spent). He also proposes a new idea for making up the funding gap: toll the new bridge or the completed Thruway. I've had the same thought, since it seems there won't be enough money to go around in the current budget climate.

While we're talking about the Daily Item: I've noticed in the last week that The Daily Item has buried the important world news. The pending impeachment of Pres. Musharraf in Pakistan was on D8 last Saturday (that's the back of the classifieds section)--no note on page 1 about the story. The resignation of Pres. Musharraf is on A8 today--again no note on page 1. (Stories about bombings in Iraq have been similarly relegated to the anonymous back pages--but that might be understandable given how many of those stories have had to be written in the last five years.)

In contrast, a story about two guys who claim to have bigfoot in their freezer appeared on A3 last Saturday. (DNA tests have indicated it's really and oppossum, but more tests are pending.)