The skies are thicker than ever with the congestion of media gasbags (witness the infantile "Where's-your-lapel-flag-pin" performance of ABC's Gibson-Stephanopoulos at the Democratic debate last night).
But this week's award for pure fatuous media posturing in a manner not seen since the heyday of Colonel McCormick goes to the editor of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch newspaper, seen here piously explaining why his worthy publication agreed to withhold news of the imminent collapse of Skybus airlines earlier this month.
Not only did the newspaper and its Web site sit on the news, the reporter dispatched to the airport was instructed not to tell people about it either. Even though they were going to be stranded.
I generally don't pay attention to these "We here at the Bumbutt Bugle think ..." kinds of dispatches from the regional fartosphere that the Poynter media site Romenesko gets all atwitter over, but this one demands a look.
For some reason that defies rational explanation, the newspaper failed to report its knowledge that the local airline was about to shut down, knowing full well that its readers who were also passengers were likely to be stuck. It seems the newspaper had inexplicably agreed to an "embargo" on the news -- even though the news was available elsewhere.
Shhhh. What's that loud hissing sound?
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