Tired of all that depressing local business news? You won’t have to read it in The Bulletin anymore, at least on Mondays.
Bend’s Only Daily Newspaper dumped its Monday Business section this week and has replaced it with … get ready for it … a “Pets” section.
Well, it’s really more of a “page” than a “section.” This week it contained a feature story informing us that pets need shelter when it gets very cold (duh!) plus a wire service story about President-elect Obama’s search for a White House dog, a photo of a reader’s cute Pomeranian (aww!) and a blurb inviting people to adopt Prince Ollie the cat.
The inside of the “Pet section” was taken up by syndicated features (Dear Abby, etc.), the weekly events calendar, daily TV listings and the comics.
It’s hard to figure out John Costa’s motive for this move. Maybe there was a clamorous reader demand for more pet stories. Or maybe he thought people wanted something bright and upbeat on Monday mornings instead of more stories about the collapsing local and national economy. Or maybe he just loves animals.
Whatever. In any case it means one less page of real news per week and one more page of fluff. And that’s unfortunate.
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2008.
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Reminds me of that South Park episode where the boys’ morning school news broadcast was being trounced in the ratings by classmate Craig’s stupid “Animals Close Up with a Wide-Angle Lens” show. If the Bulletin could add “Yakety Sax” for their new Pets page’s soundtrack then comparison would be perfect.
Hey Bendite, Is that all you can say about the fact that the Bulletin is downsizing their editorial force and putting their focus on a pet section? If you want good news about it, read John Costa. He put it in a nice rosy package for everyone. They’re going to be your go to paper for positive stories – on your cat.
Bendite: I’ve been in this business more than 40 years and I have never considered it my job to sugar-coat the truth or push any Chamber of Commerce agenda. If you want happy-talk “news” you’d better stick with The Bulletin and its heartwarming stories about pets, our booming economy and fairy princesses riding on unicorns.
Hey dark Cloud Eye Ball, don’t you have anything good to say? You are the most pessimistic person in Bend. BMW bitching moaning and whining, thatâ ™s all you can do! How do you stay off of antidepressants? Take a look around Bend and youâ ™ll see plenty of things that are good. There are plenty of happy people doing good things and living great lives. You remind me of a trapped big city jerk, constantly complaining. Come on man get off the negative crap and be nice person. Itâ ™s not that hard!
Bendite–If it weren’t for The Bulletin, there would be no Source. The sole purpose of alternative rags like the Source, Willamette Week, The Stranger, etc., is to try and beat up on the local daily. The relationship in not unlike that of the ugly sucker fish, living off bits of food stuck to the glass of an otherwise healthy aquarium.
Sonny – That’s what all of the fish banging their head against the aquarium glass say about the fish in the river.
Sonny, the sucker fish performs an essential function, helping remove algae and other crud that otherwise would proliferate, suck all the oxygen out of the water and cause the other fish to die.
So I consider your comparison flattering.