Jounal Continues Skewed Priorities

In a perfect storm of tabloid excess, this weekend’s Journal (J), solidified its lead as New Mexico’s number one newspaper impersonator. It spent its front page on Friday and Saturday pillorying Bill Richardson, Sunday hysterically fear-mongering a white supremacist prison gang, and Monday lauding one of its most publicized projects—no, not health care for children, not the ruinous cost of our misguided war on terror, nor the botched Republican economic policies, but, yes, what the J sees as Albuquerque’s number one problem—THE LANDSCAPING OF ALBUQUERQUE’S INTERSATE HIGHWAYS. . . sigh.

On Saturday, one of the J’s most slippery propagandists, Leslie Linthicum, who previously wrote a four part “biography” of Bill Richardson, took off the gloves and blasted the Governor for the second day in a row on the front page for his mistaken comment in the gay and lesbian debate on Thursday. Despite the governor’s immediate statement that he had misheard the question and the debate moderators concession that he had done a great deal for their cause, Linthicum poured it on, citing every possible source of criticism and giving Richardson little credit for his considerable efforts in this area. Could it be that Linthicum and her co-writer, Michael Coleman, reflect the homophobic bias typical of the right wing, religious, Republican tabloid (Can you say Fox?) and radio nut cases that the J seeks to emulate? Surely, Rush Limbaugh liked it.

On Sunday the Journal used a large headline and rare red print to inform New Mexico that the Aryan Brotherhood IS COMING! In a lurid style reminiscent of the recently defunct “Weekly World News” (which gave us Bat Boy and space alien abductions galore), the J scraped up sketchy details about a gang which MAY be a threat, MIGHT have committed crimes in NM and MIGHT threaten you if you live to be a million years old.

But, the J’s Pulitzer moment was today’s, above the fold, color photo of bulldozers beautifying the big I interchange. What a heart warming cause for a major metropolitan newspaper! Early this year, the J devoted one of its rare multi-issue, front page stories to the interchange’s insufficient and boring landscaping. Never mind that the state legislature was debating far-reaching cuts to Medicare, the J alerted us to the inadequate esthetics of our concrete, asphalt and . . . yes, worst of all . . . gray gravel! Surely the J staff is walking a little taller today at this fruition of its efforts to beautify our environment. Undoubtedly, this is money well spent.