In Which the Local Paper is Terrible

By: Stephanie on 1:20 PM

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I think my least favorite thing about living in Claremore (or any small town) is the local newspaper. I recognize its importance to many citizens; it's where people read about accomplishments of schoolchildren, achievements of local individuals, updates on city government goings-on. I understand those things are important and enjoyable reading material for many. I, however, am not one of those people.

To me, the local paper (Claremore Daily Progress, if you were wondering) is full of useless information about high school sports teams, the lunch menu at the elementary school, updates on church activities, and editorial rants about city council members. It's also littered with typos, misleading headlines, and poor design choices.

Let's examine some recent issues, shall we?

• "More legal claims targeting county" (April 17, 2011): "That includes $9,873 for a claim by Marion Gooding, a Tulsa man who was arrested for desecrating U.S. Fag, and $2,097 for Richard Fumi’s allegations that a Sheriff’s deputy injured him during an arrest." Desecrating a what? A US Fag, you say? Why is it capitalized? Where is the appropriate article before the noun?? (This typo was only in the print edition. Mercifully, the online edition reads "desecrating a U.S. flag".)
• "Meth lab found in garbage truck" (April 18, 2011): What image does this headline evoke? A scandal involving a rogue garbage truck driver cooking meth in a city vehicle, perhaps selling it on his rounds? You'd be wrong. Turns out someone deposited the remains of a meth lab into their trash can, and said contents eventually made it to a garbage truck. Is it really a meth lab when it's just a bunch of empty Claritin boxes??

And then there's the content itself. I won't slam the sports updates or the reports of spelling bee winners. Those things are important to most of the community, and I know if I had a kid playing baseball for the Zebras, I'd clip every one of those articles out, put them in a folder, and promptly forget where I placed it. My issues with the Progress are some of the idiotic drivel they publish under the pretense of "news". Take this column from last : September, written by special columnist Walt Thurn: "Christians, Muslims, and the Undecided". It's the first of a series focusing on differences between Christians and Muslims which seems to try to convert the undecided to Christianity under the guise of "explaining" the two religions. Here are some highlights:

• "Islam, on the other hand, subscribes very strongly to ‘Islamic Supremacism’ and believes that rejecters or infidels should be confronted immediately with some form of jihad." (There are three forms of jihad, two of which have nothing to do with warfare.)
• "Also to be considered in future weeks is the reality that this is America and this country was founded on Christian principles while allowing religious freedom." (In reality, the country was founded along pretty generous Deist principles.)
• "We have offered the freedom of religion to others, but the question is being raised whether we are giving up some basic freedoms in order to preserve the freedoms of those who may not agree with our constitution or wish to be assimilated into our way of life." (The author declines to outline which basic freedoms Americans are giving up.)

In subsequent columns, Thrun makes a number of incorrect statements on Islamic faith and continues to write with a condescending attitude towards those of the Islamic faith. I was surprised and deeply concerned that the local paper was willing to publish such an inflammatory column; I suppose in reality, I was the only one inflamed. After all, in a city of 75% white people deep in the Bible Belt, what can you expect?

I expect good reporting from my local media, that's what. Fair and balanced coverage on city, county, and state happenings. Real news- not dozens of human interest stories. I expect someone to proofread articles before they're published, and to edit articles and headlines when necessary. I expect a newspaper.