A serious delay

We've made jokes here about how news in the Herald-Press is always multiple days late. This time, the lack of getting the news out in a timely matter has taken a serious turn.

There was a homicide in Huntington. A man was shot and killed, and his body found Saturday morning. Normal newspaper procedures are to check in with the police and sheriff's departments on a daily basis. If the staff of the Herald-Press was doing its job, they would have found out on Saturday about the shooting. True, it wasn't until Sunday until the shooting was determined by Coroner Leon Hurlburt to be a homicide, but a shooting still should have been reported in Sunday's paper, Monday's paper at the very latest.

The Herald-Press did have a posting on its website on Sunday:

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Homicide in Huntington

Staff Writer
Published: Today

A Huntington man was murdered over the weekend.
Donald Barton, 29, of 629 Henry St. in Huntington, died from a gunshot wound early Saturday morning. At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Huntington County Coroner Leon Hurlburt ruled Barton's death as a homicide.
Hurlburt declined to go into further detail as the investigation is ongoing. The Huntington Police Department is handling the investigation.
Check Tuesday's edition of The Herald-Press for more details regarding this case.

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Check TUESDAY'S edition?

There's a murderer loose in Huntington, and the Herald-Press is going to wait three days to let people in the town know about it.

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette was also reporting on the murder Sunday on the web. They'll have it in Monday's paper, and it was already out on Associated Press Sunday as well, meaning it will be in nearly every paper in the state Monday - a full day before it shows up in the Herald-Press, the paper of the town where the murder occurred.

No joking around here. This is a serious lack of judgment. This is seriously irresponsible. The people of Huntington deserve better. This is as bad as it can be.