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Sunday, June 24, 2007
SOS: Page A1, Sunday New York Times This morning, Scathing Online Schoolmarm considers a very well-written, high-profile news article on the front page of the Sunday New York Times -- arguably the most prominent, most-read, front-page in the world. UD has already noted on this blog occasional lapses of news-sense on the part of her beloved newspaper, moments when this impressively international publication loses the bigger picture and betrays a certain parochialism. Here's an example. HEADLINE: A Fairway View, But the Window is Often Broken Intriguing. What's it mean? What's it about? Golf, I guess. A good headline -- makes you want to read on. Let's do that. When she moved into her retirement condominium on a golf course, Eleanor Weiner admired the lush, pristine views of the fairways and greens, a landscape she never had to mow or maintain. Not long after, as she prepared dinner, a golf ball shattered the kitchen window, whistled past her head and crashed through the glass on her oven door. Ms. Weiner retrieved the ball from her oven and stalked outside to confront the golfer who had launched the missile. Starts with narrative. A very good idea. But the writer clearly means this story to generate sympathy for poor Ms. Weiner, shattered by the evil golf ball. And we're going to have trouble sympathizing, aren't we? “He told me that’s what I get for living on a golf course,” said Ms. Weiner, who has lived for a dozen years alongside Rancho Las Palmas Country Club near Palm Springs, Calif. “That was the first time I heard that, but it surely hasn’t been the last.” Damn straight. Live on a golf course, get golf balls. UD's with all the guys telling her off. So the story's already a bit broken. Also, UD's beginning to wonder why the editorial staff of the New York Times thinks golf balls in your windows is a subject, let alone a Sunday A1 subject. Has Ms. Weiner has been hit in the head by so many golf balls that she's become a demented invalid? If UD doesn't read something like this in the next few paragraphs, she's going to wonder even more why an international newspaper has put a non-story on its front page. The intersection of errant golf shots and private property is not a new phenomenon. But with new gear that enables average golfers to hit a ball 250 yards, and with golf communities sprouting nationwide — 70 percent of new courses include housing — it is becoming an increasingly prominent problem. Most homes built near this country’s 16,000 golf courses may not be in the cross hairs of slicing duffers, but thousands are. Already the note of desperation. The writer knows how microscopically trivial his assignment -- the dueling interests of the rich, the battle royale between lush-living retirees and state of the art golf gear owners -- is, so he struggles to beef it up with words like "prominent" and "cross hairs." Plus look at that statistic! Thousands of people just like Ms. Weiner all over this country are being shattered by golf balls... And listen to this! Before buying a five-bedroom house in Maricopa, Ariz., Jenny Robertson scrutinized it, with her mother’s help, according to feng shui principles to assess its harmony with its surroundings. Mrs. Robertson, who is not a golfer, barely looked at the tee box 150 yards from her backyard. Abu Gharib nothing! Look what people right here in this country are going through! And this woman did everything right -- she feng shuied for Chrissake! And the havoc! Dented cars! But there's a solution. There's a happy ending. Which also makes UD wonder why the Times ran this piece. Ms. Weiner ... turned to Screenmobile, a company that specializes in heavy-duty screens for doors and windows. Screenmobile said it received more than 400 calls from homeowners last year. Four hundred calls just last year. Labels: SOS |