Bob Ashley became editor of the Durham Herald Sun in late 2004. During the next 15 months, the paper’s circulation declined about 20%.
Then in March of this year, the biggest news story to ever hit Durham exploded onto the front pages of newspapers across America and around the world. What was first called “the Duke lacrosse rape case” and is now recognized as a hoax case has remained a “page one” story for seven months.
The case has provided “cover story material” for Newsweek and Time as Durham’s DA Nifong went for weeks giving bizarre interviews in which, among other things, he explained how condoms could have been used in an alleged gang-rape and demonstrated strangulation with Nifong simultaneously acting the roles of strangler and victim.
Reverends Jackson and Sharpton offered (pleaded?) to come to Durham. They didn’t, but the Black Panthers did.
Duke University’s President allowed as how he was eager to see three of his students charged with the alleged gang-rape “prove their innocence” at a trial.
CBS’s 60 Minutes spent six months researching the story and reported in a double episode.
All that and more has played out right smack in the middle of the H-S circulation area.
So what’s happened to the H-S’s circulation numbers these past six months?
They’ve gone up, right?
Wrong!
In The Raleigh News & Observer we read that :
“according to the Newspaper Association of America’s calculations of data supplied by the Audit Bureau of Circulations [ABC] for the period [March to September, 2006,] The Herald-Sun of Durham, which competes directly with The N&O in Durham and Chapel Hill, reported the greatest declines of the state’s largest papers: a 7.3 percent decrease daily and a 10.5 percent drop on Sunday.”How to explain those circulation drops?
I think they reflect the fact that growing numbers Durhamites are learning that Ashley spins a lot of news and ignores or buries other news that doesn’t fit his agenda.
Just consider today’s H-S. It’s front page Election Day story, “Durham DA race is hot,” begins:
Voters are set to go to the polls today to settle a variety of state and local elections, none hotter than the race for district attorney in Durham County.If you’re following the election, you know Nifong and Cheek are locked in what looks like a close race.
Incumbent DA Mike Nifong faces challenges from County Commissioner Lewis Cheek and write-in challenger Steve Monks.
Campaign workers for all three men spent Monday preparing for today's election, lining up precinct-watchers to greet voters and making sure prospective supporters understand the rules that will govern the balloting.
Monks has almost no organization and no chance of winning. He’s polling in the low single digits. A Monks vote is a vote experts say would likely go to Cheek.
But for weeks Ashley and the H-S have built up Monks and treated him as a serious challenger.
Today’s H-S story makes no mention of Monks' polls numbers or the experts belief that all he can do is possibly play a spoiler role by siphoning votes from Cheek and thereby tip a close election to Nifong.
The H-S story also makes no mention of the sexual harassment complaint former Durham Assistant DA Ashley Cannon’s has filed against someone in Nifong’s office. Cannon says Nifong ignored her complaint.
The H-S failed to report on the story yesterday when the Raleigh N&O reported it.
Today the H-S stuck the story in its “Metro” section, which is folded inside the “A” and “Sports” sections.
For the best and most comprehensive reporting on Cannon’s charge see KC Johnson’s report at Durham-in-Wonderland.
Intelligent people aren’t going to pay money for the kind of “news reporting” the H-S served up today and has been serving up for months.
Many people believe Nifong’s “the worst DA in America.”
Ashley’s Duke Hoax and DA election coverage have a lot of people saying he’s the worst newspaper editor in America.
The ABC circulation numbers would seem to clinch their case.
BTW – In case you’re wondering why I went to the N&O for the ABC’s H-S circulation report, I couldn’t find it in the H-S.
3 comments:
In addition to "(Ashley) spins a lot of news and ignores or buries other news that doesn’t fit his agenda", the H-S is a thin excuse for a daily metropolitan newspaper on it's best days.
I think as long as it ignores Durham organized crime and the growing gang problem (and I am making the distinction) it will slide into the status and relevancy of a local weekly newspaper.
Really, who needs it anymore?
It's a glorified shopper, now, folks with the sort of slo-mo incurious non-reporting you'd expect from same. Obviously these clowns are better geared to cover news such as, say, the grand opening of a new Sheetz or a mattress outlet. However, it is located in Durham, so John's comments about the HS no longer appealing to intelligent readers would make one think circulation numbers should be rising! Wonder how the publisher is loving those circ numbers now, booyah? Bet on the wrong horse, didn't you, boy? Der Fongster may ride tonight, but he is going down in flames soon and taking the HS with him. sic semper tyrannis
Thanks for your fine work.
I'm thinking a weekly limited to Public Notices & Obituaries.
Accuracy would not be quite as critical then.
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