Newshooter,
IMO, trying to get to someone's motive based on a couple lines of text is a pointless exercise likely to end only in speculation and frustration. I've worked at 5 papers and I think it unlikely you can tell the "mindset" of a person or an organization by a given article or a few lines of text in one article.
Maybe the editor let it go in just because he or she found it quirky and/or interesting and thought the readers might find it the same. Obviously, a number of folks on this board found it worth commenting on. Maybe it was one of 30 articles the editor read that night and he or she didn't have a particular feeling about pocket knives one way or the other. Truth is, most people don't spend much time on the subject and wouldn't know a pearl-handled canoe from a dollar store piece of doo-doo.
"Newsworthy" is a shifting term these days. A given publication can be full of important, accurate and well-written accounts ... but if the public doesn't buy it, it goes the way of the dodo bird. Take the comics, recipes and sports out of a general circulation newspaper, and see how many people buy it or how many people the newspaper can afford to employ.
Also, I do know the newspaper business is not the slick, well-ochestrated propoganda machine many believe. Newsrooms may be full of left-leaning barely competent urbanites, but for the most part they're underfunded for what the public expects and just trying to push a cleanly written and illustrated product out the door on time. For a "live" section like news or sports, the actual production cycle (editing, layout, pagemaking) is less than 8 hours long.
Any editor at anything bigger than Sam Drucker's Hooterville Times at one time or another has had a reader accuse him or her of being involved in a conspiracy. I always tell 'em we're barely smart and organized enough to get a newspaper out, let alone craft a conspiracy.
Just some food for thought from the liberal leftist pinko hack desk.
And, um, to whomever ... baseball pants generally do have at least one hip pocket. Ever seen a skipper take his lineup card out of his back pocket or a guy stuff his batting glove(s) in his back pocket?
Edit: Just noticed this article came from MLB.com and one of their writers. I kind of doubt they're pushing an anti-knife agenda. They only cover baseball.
IMO, trying to get to someone's motive based on a couple lines of text is a pointless exercise likely to end only in speculation and frustration. I've worked at 5 papers and I think it unlikely you can tell the "mindset" of a person or an organization by a given article or a few lines of text in one article.
Maybe the editor let it go in just because he or she found it quirky and/or interesting and thought the readers might find it the same. Obviously, a number of folks on this board found it worth commenting on. Maybe it was one of 30 articles the editor read that night and he or she didn't have a particular feeling about pocket knives one way or the other. Truth is, most people don't spend much time on the subject and wouldn't know a pearl-handled canoe from a dollar store piece of doo-doo.
"Newsworthy" is a shifting term these days. A given publication can be full of important, accurate and well-written accounts ... but if the public doesn't buy it, it goes the way of the dodo bird. Take the comics, recipes and sports out of a general circulation newspaper, and see how many people buy it or how many people the newspaper can afford to employ.
Also, I do know the newspaper business is not the slick, well-ochestrated propoganda machine many believe. Newsrooms may be full of left-leaning barely competent urbanites, but for the most part they're underfunded for what the public expects and just trying to push a cleanly written and illustrated product out the door on time. For a "live" section like news or sports, the actual production cycle (editing, layout, pagemaking) is less than 8 hours long.
Any editor at anything bigger than Sam Drucker's Hooterville Times at one time or another has had a reader accuse him or her of being involved in a conspiracy. I always tell 'em we're barely smart and organized enough to get a newspaper out, let alone craft a conspiracy.
Just some food for thought from the liberal leftist pinko hack desk.
And, um, to whomever ... baseball pants generally do have at least one hip pocket. Ever seen a skipper take his lineup card out of his back pocket or a guy stuff his batting glove(s) in his back pocket?
Edit: Just noticed this article came from MLB.com and one of their writers. I kind of doubt they're pushing an anti-knife agenda. They only cover baseball.