A few days ago the Day ran a headline stating that Glenn Beck drew hundreds of thousands of people to his rally for suckers, a claim belied by the article itself and the only scientific attempt (Approximately 87,000 attendees) to determine the numbers. I said nothing.
But I can no longer hold my tongue. Today, on the front page-that’s right, not in “Living”, not in the comics, not even in “Religion” the Day features an extensive article on some religiously loony Ghostbusters calling themselves the East Coast Angels, who are dedicated to getting rid of ghosts in Jesus name, Amen.
Perhaps I’m thick. Perhaps I’m missing the irony. But I can’t find a syllable of skepticism in the entire article. It is straight reportage on ghosts, and the idiots who believe in them, along with their truly scientific methods for detecting and expelling them. I mean, they don’t even take the standard approach most reporters take to scientific questions these days. You know, where they balance the overwhelming scientific evidence against one crank. In the Day, we only hear from the cranks.
Why cover the news, when you can give the idiots what they want?
How long before we start burning witches, with the Day giving a respectful hearing to the witch burners?
UPDATE: A commentor refers us to this article, which discusses the fact that the push to drive internet traffic is behind the dumbing down of the American newspaper. I had actually read that article recently, possibly following the same link from Colin McEnroe, but I didn’t connect the dots when I read the Day’s article. I certainly should have, since my wife said she got a “tweet” from the Day with the teaser line “Do you believe in ghosts?”. I guess something like that is more likely to generate traffic than, “Do you think Congress should raise the payroll tax ceiling instead of cutting social security?”, which, I concede, is probably too long to tweet.
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