See, posts like this make the Baby Jesus cry. I could see if you were from Japan or India or somewhere–but Queens?!
It’s what you feel just before you get a haircut from a new hairdresser.
What happens to your outside after an afternoon in the blazing sun.
Well, hey, at least someone in the newspaper business isn’t answering to shareholders. Though answering to the voices in Reverend Moon’s head isn’t much better.
Personally, I’ve never understood why the death of someone who was formerly an influencer of culture and society is considered news. It is of interest, but nothing has changed because of their passing.
If Bob Hope had died in 1965, that is news. Dying in 2003, 15 years after he stopped seriously working and a decade after his last real appearance is just a curiosity.
John Lennon dying in 1981 (or whatever year), news. John Lennon dying in 2023, 20 years after his last album, curiosity.
So, if the Post, a daily newspaper, feels that what is going on with a local current celebrity is more newsworthy than what happened 36 hours earlier to a giant former celebrity, I haven’t much cause to dispute their judgment.
[Personally, the death of Bob Hope is much bigger than a football player or most other sports stories of the day; but it isn’t really front page news unless it is an entertainment industry oriented publication.]
So he can put his own spin on goings-on, or so DC knows all about his latest to-do wherever he happens to be?
Sure. But still, a lot of nice people who were genuinely funny die every day. To me, this was just another guy. He still got front page billing. The story was everywhere. Perhaps they thought that if they focused on something else they would sell more papers. Who knows?
I’m inclined to think it had more to do with layout than relative story importance.
No, I wouldn’t say that’s the case. The Post is very sensitive to the ‘Front Page, Over the Flap’ issue because of their large scale newsstand sales figures. And it’s the Over the Flap pix that get that done most times.
On the whole, I wish the world were a little less profit-driven. But this is an exception.
BLASPHEMER!
I’d pause for their passing as well, if I knew them.
More people knew him. Ergo, more people would want to get the deails on his death. Seems fairly obvious to me.
Bob Hope’s death got more ink that any celebrity death I can remember, except the untimely ones. When’s the last time a celebrity death made the front page at all, let alone above the fold?
Princess Di?
Well, Katharine Hepburn and Gregory Peck . . . though they were below the fold.
You know how celebrity obits are written well ahead of time? I heard one of Hope’s was written buy a guy who died three years ago!
My thinking: When Bob Hope died, it was the last time he’d ever do something noteworthy. Patrick Ramsey has all season to attempt to do something noteworthy. Bob Hope entertained troops, and more importantly, mobilized other celebrities to entertain troops in every conflict from World War II to the first Gulf War, often visiting hospitalized soldiers only a handful of miles from the front lines. Patrick Ramsey, um, plays football.
So Ramsey plays for the Redskins. Yay. Bob Hope’s accomplishments transcended local rah-rah sports coverage. Ramsey will have sixteen weeks (depending on job performance) in the news in the very near future. The WaPo could’ve thought beyond pandering to the local selling points for one day. Bad form.
Yeah, tlw, but by the same logic, the reporting on Hope’s death is a short description of how and where he died and who was with him, along with an overview of his career. It takes time to compile these memorial articles, and it’s better anyway to wait and get them from magazines, not daily papers. Meanwhile, the Redskins are gearing up right now, for a season that holds potential. What Hope did in his life is done; we can read it at our leisure.
No, Jeff is right. It takes very little time to get an obit/career overview piece ready for publication.
Major newspapers (and magazines) maintain what’s called an ‘obit file’ for major celebrities. It’s the article, usually written by a stringer or assistant editor (someone fairly junior with free time) that says 'Bob Hope died today of XXX. It happened at XXX. He was a great yadda yadda…"
If Bob Hope had done something noteworthy last year the managing editor of the Washington Post would have told some flunky “Bob Hope just invented Cold Fusion! Let’s run a story on it and make sure his obit file is updated!”
So when he died they just say ‘Get me the obit file!’ Then they touch it up for the particular circumstance and print it. Takes an hour or so, no more. Easy column inches to fill.
In rhyming slang, the OP informs me that sock-ar is more important than marijuana. Which is not terribly interesting, I grant to you. Laters . . .
Bop Hope is slang for marijuana? How on earth did that come about?