Tuesday, November 4, 2008

A final word on the NRA wrapper

I received this comment from someone inside the Journal: I'm posting it up front to explain a little better what happened with "The" wrapper.

"I totally agree with inky..

I think it's lame that the Flint Journal is blaming their carriers for this. The letter the carriers got on October 15th from the Journal stated: "NRA has provided The Flint Journal with special bags to be used with the delivery of Monday November 3rd. The Journal will pay participating carriers _______ for each newspaper delivered IN the special bag on that day"

Later on they changed their minds and told us to not put the papers in the bag, but to insert or roll them with the paper. This was not mailed out to us, and it seems that not everyone got the updated message.

Whether the bag was in the paper, rolled in the paper, or the paper was in the bag, isn't the problem. The Flint Journal should have just said "This is a paid advertisement, and we are in the business of making money on advertisements. Contact the NRA and complain to them." and been done with it..

The people out there making a big stink about this plastic bag are doing exactly what the NRA had hoped for. Getting the NRA's message out to an even bigger audience."

I could not agree more with anonymous.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Barney Fife ran a newspaper ...

Anonymous said...

I could be wrong, but I can't fathom that the NRA paid the Flint Journal money so that its anti-Obama bags would be rolled up into the paper. So it seems The Journal's leadership wanted to have it both ways -- take the NRA's cash, hide the bags inside the paper to duck the reader controversy and then throw the carriers under the bus when they put the papers inside the bags.

Makes you wonder how they'd handle a hot-potato news story, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Supposedly, they wanted TFJ to put the paper in the bag. The editor said, "no way." So, they compromised. We'll insert the bag in the paper and give them a full-page ad in the paper so we can get the full amount of cash from the NRA. I guess this happened in Allentown, Pa. (among others), yet another Newhouse entity. They pulled a Tony Dearing, as well.