Oh, AP. Oh AP, AP, AP.

[spatch]

Remember when we could count on the Associated Press to write articles on even the worst of calamities with a non-sensationalistic bent? Remember when they had their own style guide? Remember those halcyon days of yesteryear? Yeah, well, you can go pack all your happy memories up and put 'em in the same place you put the pet rock, Brutalist architecture and chlorophyl toothpaste. I know this is an isolated incident, but this will give you some idea of what passes for quality control around there nowadays. Someone decided to get a little poetic (and horribly at that) in their account of the mall shootings in Omaha:

Hawkins carried out his shooting spree from the third floor of the Westroads Mall, the bullets from his rifle cutting through the sound of Christmas music as he terrorized shoppers and employees.

IT'S THIS MUSIC! HE HATES THIS MUSIC!
STAY AWAY FROM THE MUSIC!

Comments

[zhym.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing the AP picked that up from the Omaha paper. Smaller-town papers (like the one in my hometown, KC) seem prone to purple prose where it doesn't belong. You can often tell when a KC Star article is homegrown instead of reprinted from the wire because it will start with something like, "Shoppers dropped their treasures in a rush to protect themselves and their loved ones." I made that up, but compare it to Reuters' actual lead: "A 19-year-old man killed eight people and then himself with a rifle at a busy mall in Omaha on Wednesday."

I think it's a disease common to the cub reporter: mistaking the news article for a novel.

[spatch]

I think all reporters, upon receiving their degrees in Journalism, should receive a nice sign for their office that reads "YOU ARE NOT TRUMAN CAPOTE."