Sometimes, friends, the fates smile upon you. Why, it was just yesterday when I was lamenting the fact that Paulie’s disappearance from KC’s Most Important Social Networkingish “Media” Site left me with little to talk about in that regard. My, how 24 hours have changed things. Today Ink editor Laurie Mansfield posted a seemingly innocuous blog entry about a small paper in Arkansas treating Obama’s election as second-rate news. Yawn, right? But buried at the bottom of this piece is a slightly more interesting thought: a harsh criticism of Peter Rugg’s undercover-McCain-volunteer story from a recent issue of The Pitch. And my oh my, are the gloves already off in KC’s insular journalism world.
Here’s the relevant text from Mansfield:
And speaking of embarrassments to our profession, The Pitch has a story on its Web site titled, “A Pitch reporter volunteers for the McCain campaign.”
Seriously?
Please. Don’t call yourself a reporter. Our industry’s credibility is suffering enough…
Whoa! Easy, Mansfield. It was just a simple undercover piece. But hey, to be fair, maybe she has a point? After all, maybe her rivals at that other free weekly should take a cue from Mansfield’s previous blog entries, which contain the kind of hard-hitting journalism that only Ink can provide. Some titles:
“Recession Doesn’t Have to be Depressing.”
“Something for the Ladies (barf).”
“Who Loves/Hates my New Rug?”
“Update! Smuggling Food in Her Panties.”
“How Many Laxatives!?!”
You get the picture. Miss Mansfield is obviously the example of the tough, Cronkiteish reporter this town needs. Enough with your puff pieces of undercover journalism, Peter Rugg! Take a lesson from Laurie, and maybe take a journalism ethics class, as she advises. Only then will you be remotely qualified to write about KC’s most serious topics with true, Mansfieldian gravitas.
Incidentally, this issue is already exploding, in both the comments on the blog entry:
And to take a direct jab at the Pitch, your competitor? That’s pathetic. Don’t act like stories in Ink are award-winning, journalistic masterpieces. You all write about yourself more than anything else, and your editor’s notes are usually a complete waste of space and time. Get over yourself…
At least the Pitch is a real newspaper instead of the Star’s farm club. It takes real chutzpah for someone in your position to denigrate any else’s credentials as a reporter.
and on the excellent local blog Bottom Line Communications:
There is something both funny/sad about Laurie Mansfield, 33, the editor of INK, actually criticizing other publications for their journalistic practices. Real journalists at The Star cringe when INK is even mentioned as a sister publication.
Well, well. So far these two publications seem to have avoided going after each other directly. Did Miss Mansfield just launch the first volley in a bitter battle between the two publications? Stay tuned.
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