The Huntington school board had OK'd a new tech high school for Huntington North that had been reported in Fort Wayne newspaper and television, locally at the TAB and on HuntingtonFreePress.com, and even here on our our blog.
The Herald-Press finally had a story in on Friday, Nov. 20, a total of 11 days after it had been approved. The H-P likes to use the word "recently" to date stories that they've completely missed. That way the reader can't really tell how long ago the event actually happened.
There was another HUGE story this week in Huntington as Coroner Leon Hurlburt announced the county's first death from H1n1 flu.
The Herald-Press did put the story on the front page of the paper Thursday, but at the bottom of the page, apparently having much less importance to them than their main story, a story on the annual Great American Smokeout.
That story was nothing more than a rehashed press release from the American Cancer Society.
Now, we're all for people to stop smoking, but to make that the story of the day when there was a death from H1N1 is just plain stupid.
It's especially stupid when the Herald-Press has never looked into what is happening with H1N1 in the county. They've had stories from press releases saying that the flu is here, then stories saying it isn't here.
Then, all of a sudden, there's a death from the flu here. The H-P doesn't ask any questions, they just print what is released from the coroner's office. Do they ask how widespread the flu is in Huntington County? Do they ask if it could possibly be a problem?
No.
But they did not that it s Herald-Press policy not to print names of victims.
Which victims? Just flu victims? How about accident victims? Murder victims?
Most media outlets don't print names of victims in cases of sexual assaults, or minors who are victims in certain cases.
But most newspapers probably don't have a policy on naming flu victims. In this case, the name was not provided by the coroner, nor was it integral to the story. The main point was that there was a death, and what ramifications there are from that. But the H-P missed on that follow-up as well.
Still, we'd be interested to see that list of Herald-Press policies.
Maybe they should spend a little more time doing some actual reporting and asking people some real questions rather than worrying about names of flu victims or retyping stories on things like "National Pumpkin Week" or some such thing.