Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Globe relies on AP for coverage of Johnston preliminary hearing

It appears the Joplin Globe must have been short on reporters Monday or there was a lot of news going on (something that is not evident from its website).
The Globe, led by Jeff Lehr and Derek Spellman, has been right on top of the coverage of these McDonald County and Newton County church ritual sex cases, but not this morning.
The coverage of Monday's preliminary hearing in Newton County Circuit Court of Granby church leader George Otis Johnston was written by "AP and staff reports." Normally, the "By Staff Reports" means the staff did not have anything to do with it. In this case, it means the Globe sprinkled in information from its previous articles with AP reporter Marcus Kabel's coverage of Monday's preliminary hearing. It is surprising the Globe did not find some way to staff what has been a major news story over the past several weeks.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Randy - I don't know the details, but if the largest newspaper in the area wasn't at the hearing yesterday, that is very surprising.This is a big story with huge outcomes. I spent much of last night with two reporters from National Public Radio who were here covering this story yesterday.
Because of the way NPR does stories, it's hard to tell how this will play out with them, but I believe it will be part of a very big story with international ramifications.

I think this is a story that the major newspaper in the area should not miss for a minute. As I said, I don't know for sure who was there since I was not covering it, but this story is bigger than most of us realize.

K. Hively

Anonymous said...

Randy,
You have done good work on pointing out the many instances of the Joplin Globe not being there to cover news. As you know they were the only major news organization in Southwest Missouri in both Springfield and Joplin markets that failed to Cover Senator Nodler and Senator Scott's proposal to make English the official language for Missouri. The Senate Interim Committee on the Affordability of Higher Education will be holding hearings in Joplin. This committee is chaired by Senator Nodler. The Globe ran front page and editorial pieces when President Elson Floyd joined Julio Leon in Joplin to address this very topic. The Globe called on the legislature to act. Do you think that when the legislature is here in Joplin dealing with the very issue the Globe will cover it? Don't hold your breath on that one!

Anonymous said...

Ha,Ha..nice to know Nodler himself is posting and reading the Turner report. Sheesh, what an obivious post from old Noodle Head.

Anonymous said...

anonymous, Its more likely someone from Nodler's staff, but who cares? The post makes a point that you seem to miss. The Globe doesn't cover real news often. So "sheesh" (whatever that means, it isn't a word) where is your head at anyway?