Mickey Kaus rightly draws our attention to the fact that various PR departments have learned that huge news stories like Sept 11 and this war are great times to release embarrassing stories about their companies, countries, or organizations. http://slate.msn.com/id/2080319/
So, this thread is for listing any stories that seem like a big deal… which would have been front page news before, but are going to be largely ignored. Extra points for stories that involve information that could have been released at any time, but was held off until now. Check the back pages.
There was a Cuban flight hijacked to Florida (which is about 180 degrees around from when I was growing up) that hardly anyone has noticed. But that’s not an intentionally buried story, just bad luck for the hijackers if they were seeking publicity.
The tobacco farmer is a toss up as to the “bad luck” choice of when to create a media event. He would have gotten far more attention without the war, but then again, maybe he only got the coverage he got because there wasn’t much else of substance to report on the war preparations.
