The Enquirer has put a story about the war in Iraq on the front page just once since December 1. But let some 19 year old kill himself with a homemade pipe bomb, and the Enquirer gives us two front-page stories (
here and
here), a front-page box on Friday and an
editorial. Daniel Ferraro's attempt to win a
Darwin Award might be fodder for the Local page. The fact that the Enquirer puts it on the front page shows how little gas there is in the tank at 312 Elm.
The Enquirer is using this tragic death to further demonize the Internet, because Ferraro and his friends wanted to post video of their bomb on YouTube. The Enquirer -- the editorial page in particular -- writes almost nothing positive about the Internet. Would you, if the Internet were kicking your ass so bad?
In the past few days there's been plenty of fodder for good stories: The deal to have Portune and Hartmann
run unopposed for the Hamilton County commission is one. The City Manager Milton Dohoney's
demand to know why police and firemen are acting like Bengals is another. Both made the front page but neither had a follow-up. Dohoney's memo on the police and fire departments didn't even rate an editorial.
Dohoney wrote that memo Dec. 27, and it took the Enquirer till January 5 to publish it. Would that have happened if the Post was still around?
