Christians, Vets, Prolifers are linked to being nothing better than KKK by Marshall Messenger

LoneStarEagleNews.com

"Two men: one white, one black. One brutally murdered while standing at the gate to his homestead, the other kidnapped, beaten and burned by hot tar while being covered with feathers." This headline and first paragraph quote was taken from Sunday's April 19, 2009 front page of the Marshall News Messenger, a Cox owned newspaper. At first glance it appears to be current, relevant news. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is not until half way through the third paragraph that the reader gets a hint that the time frame for this atrocity was 1924, some 85 years ago. As a resident of Marshall and as one who has been active in the community, I have worked with hispanics, blacks, and whites to successfully achieve community goals that we all valued. It is for that very reason that I am offended to have all the hard work that has been done and is continuing to be done in Marshall by all races be tainted by misleading headlines. Publishing and editing the "other local newspaper" in Marshall, Texas, I am more aware of how various internet search engines crawl through front page headlines of various printed newspapers and grab headlines. Many fine citizens of Marshall as well as members of city government have been working diligently the past few years to develop and improve Marshall's image and further develop tourism. Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent with outside consultants on how to accomplish this difficult task and tens of thousands more are yet to be spent developing our brand. Those hard working individuals know only too well that you can do 99 things well and only 1 thing poorly and in the public's eye they will remember the 1 thing poorly done.

Does Phil Latham, publisher and editor of the Marshall News Messenger, really think this type of front page sensationalism is going to improve tourism in Marshall? Does he think it will help improve enrollment in Wiley College or East Texas Baptist University or Panola College or Texas State Technical College? If I were an out of town parent thinking of sending my son or daughter to school in Marshall and came across this headline either in printed form or on the internet, I might not take the time to read the full article. I might get the wrong impression of Marshall and elect to send my son or daughter to school else where; certainly some place where there is no racial tension.

Unfortunately, this type of "shock jock" journalism is the way many desperate printed newspapers are turning these days to help improve their dwindling readership and advertising revenue. Instead, advertisers are turning more to cable tv and the internet to get the biggest bang for their advertising buck. Hopefully, Phil Latham and the rest of his editorial staff will place sensational "historic" articles in the LIFESTYLE section of their paper and save the front page for current, relevant news.