I learn from Sinister that Tulsa World covered the Join the Impact! event there with a pretty decent article. No shocker: it was a not insignificant news event in the city (300 in attendance) and the city’s NEWSpaper did a little writeup about it.
But the 300 that attended the corresponding rally in Oklahoma City (not to mention the thousands across the country) were ignored by the city’s paper — I no longer will incorrectly call it a “newspaper” but it is printed on paper, so at least that part’s true. Again, no surprise, because the Oklahoman habitually refuses to cover the news and events that come from the liberal or progressive end of the political spectrum. “Habitually refuses” is a nice way of saying they have conspired and are conspiring to erase our existence from their pages. It is the largest paper in the state (though shrinking rapidly! Yay!) and it still has a lot of influence in political and cultural arenas (again, less and less so thanks to the internet) so the conspiracy is not piddling, even as their overall status is being reduced.
The OKC event did get covered by a couple of local TV news teams, which is great, but that doesn’t lessen the harm done by being erased from history time and again by the Oklahoman.
Frankly, I’m fed up with it and am resolved to do something about it. I’m exploring several options — including boycotts, petitions, demonstrations. A meeting with the paper’s management is a good place to start, but without some kind of threat to their revenue, I wouldn’t expect such a meeting to have any effect — those people are ideological and have to be moved by other forces than an appeal to simple fairness.
I lived in Waco, Texas, for a while, and I guarantee you that that area is politically and culturally more conservative overall than Central Oklahoma, yet the newspaper there covered peace and justice events — and not just during the nearby Camp Casey action in August 2005, but before that and well after. We might have liked more expansive and positive coverage, and they didn’t cover every single thing we did — no one expects that. But we regularly got a photo of an action — even if only four or five people participated. But they didn’t ignore our press releases, or refuse to send a camera person and/or reporter when they had one available, or keep the fact of our existence and work hidden from their readers. They covered the fucking news that was happening in their community!
Thankfully, the Web gives citizens the opportunity to participate in a new kind of journalism that is rising from the grassroots. Old media is losing this battle because they don’t or can’t adjust to new realities. They are making attempts to use the Internet, but struggling to find a successful method to make it profitable.
So if the Oklahoman wants to continue their march to obsolecence, they can continue to alienate a significant portion of their community by being ideological and reactionary beyond all reason. I’ll dance on their grave, but in the meantime, I expect them to function as the newspaper they purport to be and once in a while cover events their owners and editorial board don’t necessarily endorse.
Oh, and the effing letters to the editor situation is also now on the table. Enough! We’re not going to take it anymore!
I know that we all complain about the Oklahoman and that those who’ve lived here a lot longer than I have maybe just become resigned to the status quo. I hope that we can all band together at this vulnerable moment for the Oklahoman‘s bottom line, and make the changes we need happen. Yes, we can!
Stay tuned, I will elaborate about some action steps on this in the near future.
I refuse to buy the Oklahoman on several grounds.
It is the ONLY paper I know of in the country that prints a christian prayer on the front page. Friends from other parts of the country can’t imagine that.
I refuse to buy the Oklahoman on several grounds.
It is the ONLY paper I know of in the country that prints a christian prayer on the front page. Friends from other parts of the country can’t imagine that.
OMG… not a PRAYER!!!!! How horrible.
btw- were you emotionally traumatized from their printing horoscopes too?
OMG… not a PRAYER!!!!! How horrible.
btw- were you emotionally traumatized from their printing horoscopes too?
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red,
nothing wrong with prayer, but having one on the front page of a major daily newspaper in the U.S. is unusual, to say the least. Maybe you’ve never traveled or read other papers; it is well outside the norm.
To many — maybe not Oklahomans who have grown up with it, but many of the rest of the planet’s educated inhabitants who haven’t — it calls into question the objectivity and professionalism of the publication.
There might be other papers in the world that print daily prayers, but they would likely be in fundamentalist countries where the state is run by the religious leaders — not Western democracies.
As for horoscopes, are you equating astrology with Christianity? Didn’t think so.
And you may have noticed, the Oklahoman’s owners are not putting the astrology on the front page, but rather next to the crossword puzzle and Dear Abby. If they started featuring it on page 1, how would you react? Would it mean something different than where it currently is located?
red,
nothing wrong with prayer, but having one on the front page of a major daily newspaper in the U.S. is unusual, to say the least. Maybe you’ve never traveled or read other papers; it is well outside the norm.
To many — maybe not Oklahomans who have grown up with it, but many of the rest of the planet’s educated inhabitants who haven’t — it calls into question the objectivity and professionalism of the publication.
There might be other papers in the world that print daily prayers, but they would likely be in fundamentalist countries where the state is run by the religious leaders — not Western democracies.
As for horoscopes, are you equating astrology with Christianity? Didn’t think so.
And you may have noticed, the Oklahoman’s owners are not putting the astrology on the front page, but rather next to the crossword puzzle and Dear Abby. If they started featuring it on page 1, how would you react? Would it mean something different than where it currently is located?
Having a prayer on the front page of a newspaper that serves perhaps the largest % per capita of Christian subscribers in all the land is not unusual at all but merely recognizing who it’s customers are.
Nobody is forced to read the prayer, agree with the prayer, believe the prayer or believe that God does or does not exist.
There is a lot of offensive stuff in newspapers every day… things that i disagree with and things that offend me, such is free speech my friends.
I canceled my subscription to the Denver Post due to it’s extreme leftist agenda on virtually every page… I don’t think they should ban the Denver Post or change it.
Get over yourselves and learn to tolerate other views.
red
Having a prayer on the front page of a newspaper that serves perhaps the largest % per capita of Christian subscribers in all the land is not unusual at all but merely recognizing who it’s customers are.
Nobody is forced to read the prayer, agree with the prayer, believe the prayer or believe that God does or does not exist.
There is a lot of offensive stuff in newspapers every day… things that i disagree with and things that offend me, such is free speech my friends.
I canceled my subscription to the Denver Post due to it’s extreme leftist agenda on virtually every page… I don’t think they should ban the Denver Post or change it.
Get over yourselves and learn to tolerate other views.
red
Red, have you considered a remedial reading program? Or perhaps a course in logic?
First, it IS unusual for a prayer on the front page of the Oklahoman. This is not opinion, but fact. The way to determine the question is to look at other major dailies and do the math. That you and other Oklahoma Christians take it in stride, approve of and enjoy it is not being debated.
Secondly, the commenter you initially responded to DID “refuse to buy” the paper, just as you are now suggesting she do. So what’s your beef?
You are putting a lot of assumptions into your replies.
No one here has demanded the prayer be removed (though I think it would be an excellent idea, I’ve noted in past posts that doing so now is an impossibility, even if they had a sudden attack of professionalism and wanted to).
Again, the intolerance issue you keep bringing up is obviously projection. Hmmm, perhaps it’s a psych course you need.
Red, have you considered a remedial reading program? Or perhaps a course in logic?
First, it IS unusual for a prayer on the front page of the Oklahoman. This is not opinion, but fact. The way to determine the question is to look at other major dailies and do the math. That you and other Oklahoma Christians take it in stride, approve of and enjoy it is not being debated.
Secondly, the commenter you initially responded to DID “refuse to buy” the paper, just as you are now suggesting she do. So what’s your beef?
You are putting a lot of assumptions into your replies.
No one here has demanded the prayer be removed (though I think it would be an excellent idea, I’ve noted in past posts that doing so now is an impossibility, even if they had a sudden attack of professionalism and wanted to).
Again, the intolerance issue you keep bringing up is obviously projection. Hmmm, perhaps it’s a psych course you need.