More dog news from the Arizona Republic!
The paper’s editorial Moriarity, Scruffy McPoochie, continues to wield awesome power from his perch in the paper’s Living section.
Lesser editors vie for his favors by running as many dog stories as they can.
Today, in the Valley & State section, there’s a story about a crazy dog who was running around and attacking people and then threatened a cop, who shot the thing.
That’s a pretty simple story, but the Republic, splaying it all over the front page of the local news section, plays it thusly:
Gilbert police officer’s killing of dog divides neighborhood
It’s a gunshot that has divided a Gilbert neighborhood.
On one side, a family is mourning the loss of its 2-year-old “goofy” bloodhound and is angry that a Gilbert police officer would fire a handgun near their house in the 500 block of West Laredo Avenue.
On the other side are two women who claim they were attacked by a confused, aggressive dog roaming the street. At least one, Janet McLellan, says the officer’s use of deadly force was appropriate.
The neighborhood isn’t “divided.” There aren’t neighbors running around who are “pro-rabid dogs.”
The owners, who had a violent dog on the loose, are mad because their dog got killed.
The hed should have been “Reckless dog owners mad their rabid dog got shot.”
And the bloodhound wasn’t “goofy.” It was running around attacking people.
But it’s clear at the Republic that no one wants to offend the canine-centric sensibility of Scruffy McPoochie!
The Arizona Republic runs more dogs news than Dog Fancy. Our complete archive of the momentous rise of Scruffy McPoochie is here.
7:47 AM
Scruffy McPoochie is back!
After several weeks during which the all-powerful Arizona Republic living section editor has been quiet, presumably nibbling on kibbles in his North Korean-like redoubt at Second and Van Buren and plotting his next incursion, he reasserts himself today.
Readers know what McPoochie is interested in all things canine-related, and publishes stories about dogs compulsively; his extraordinary rise to power in that dark edifice—and the slightly unhinged lengths to which he will go to put dog news into the paper—has been charted by PHXated here and here.
Today, as I said, he’s back, continuing to help make the Arizona Republic the Nation’s Leading Purveyor of Dog Journalism.
We relate this, however, with a somewhat with heavy heart. The Republic’s Richard Ruelas is one of our favorite writers, one of the few national-class talents the paper has.
We think he might have crossed McPoochie, and been put on the dog beat as punishment.
This particular story isn’t about dogs on Twitter or dogs on Facebook, or dogs who go to church, or dog insurance, or swanky dog kennels, to name just a few of McPoochie’s recent triumphs.
The story today is about a “four-legged hero” who happened to bark at a guy in Afghanistan who happened to be a suicide bomber. The dog lives in Arizona and is being honored at some event.
This is what the paper publishes while it doesn’t publish actual news.
The complete Scruffy McPoochie archive is here.
2:13 PM
Scruffy McPoochie, rampant
Scruffy McPoochie, the editor of the Arizona Republic’s daily Living section, ignores the criticism that the paper’s feature section should include stories about people.
Dogs are ‘living’ too, McPoochie growls, and resumes pawing through wire stories, searching out the best dog news from across the nation.
Today’s entry is about dog cancer.
It continues to add to the paper’s luster as the Nation’s Leading Purveyor of Dog Journalism™.
The lede is about a dog who lost its leg to cancer.
This poignant anecdote is made all the more affecting when we learn that the dog in question was a greyhound, which are “bred for the racetrack.”
It’s hard to run with only three legs. That’s the poignant part.
You’re not going to believe this. The owner of the greyhound, Tex, who lost his leg?
[Lisa Stone], the founder of a Scottsdale law firm treats Tex and her two Ridgebacks, Layla and Larry, like her children.
“I’m the crazy dog parent,” she said, offering proof: When Tex was in the hospital after his amputation, she stayed at his bedside for eight to nine hours a day.
And when her first greyhound had his hindquarters amputated due to osteosarcoma, she slept on the living-room floor with him for more than a year because he couldn’t climb the stairs to her bedroom.
In other words, she’s had two greyhounds who’ve had their legs amputated.
What are the odds?
The story also contains this paragraph:
“To collect the DNA, we just need a little slobber, and trust me, with my Labrador, you can get plenty of it,” Trent said.
The dog cancer story joins McPoochie’s other dog journalism triumphs.
Another (!) story about a swanky kennel for dogs.
It’s hard to believe the Republic’s circulation is dropping ten percent a year.
10:59 PM
The Arizona Republic: The Nation's Leading Purveyor of Dog Journalism™
The Arizona Republic, which writes about local dogs more than humans, has a story today about a dog who died in the heat.
We’re sorry about the dog, but we already knew that it was hot out.
The story was in our zoned section, but we’re betting Scruffy McPoochie, the paper’s canny, canine Living section editor, will grab the thing and reuse it in his section sometime next week.
McPoochie, pictured above, is just one of the folks from whatever species who’ve help make the Arizona Republic the nation’s leading purveyor of dog journalism.
Just a couple of weeks ago, McPoochie ran a story about dog insurance.
It was a wire story, and mostly about people in Chicago, but McPoochie knew that dog journalism isn’t about states. It’s a state of mind.
It was such a great subject that a jealous business-section editor, in an act of journalistic oneupdogship, reassigned it to a Republic staffer, and the paper ran another story on the same lame subject.
The result, as we saw, wasn’t as good as the Chicago one, but whatever.
The paper doesn’t mind doubling down on dog journalism.
McPoochie ran a story about swanky dog hotels a while back …
… and a few weeks later, ran another story about the same damn thing.
Then there was the story about dogs on Twitter.
Which was almost as interesting as the story about dogs on Facebook.
And this is in addition to the paper’s day-to-day coverage of the beat: The church that allows dogs … another story about a dog who died … earthshaking changes at a dog park ….
Sure the paper’s circulation is declining ten percent or more a year.
That’s just among humans.
The local dog population may yet turn out to give the paper a whole new …
… leash on life!
8:08 PM
Republic Watch: The revenge of Scruffy McPoochie, Living section editor
Scruffy McPoochie, the Arizona Republic’s Living section editor, loves stories about dogs.
He’ll print stories about anything if there’s a dog in it.
Dogs on Twitter: “Dogs can tweet, too (sort of).”
Dogs on Facebook: “Busy social network for the furry set.”
There was a story about swanky places to board your dog:
“Posh pads for pampered pooches.”
And, of course, the hard-bitten McPoochie’s finest moment, just five weeks later:
Another story about swanky places to board your dog:
“Ritzy pet resorts replace kennels of yesterday.”
(Some more examples of the section’s indefatigable appetite for such stuff here. McPoochie also has a thing for Starbucks.)
Even a grizzled vet like McPoochie can still get excited about his job.
Last week his ancient heart must have begun to race when he saw a new dog-related story come over the wires.
The subject? Dog insurance!
Wire stories like that—they come to him free, with no need for making his staff do any work—are kibbles from heaven.
McPoochie’s tail wagged excitedly as he read the expository prose:
Typically, pet owners pay a monthly premium. As their pet needs veterinary services, they pay the bills upfront, then submit them for reimbursement.
Some plans cover what in human terms are considered “well visits,” including vaccinations and checkups. But many cover only costs associated with a pet’s illness.
Not just a dog story—a story that explains how insurance works!
He’s a key part of the Arizona Republic’s secret plan to bore people to death.
Anyway, it was the work of a few minutes to whip up a hedline—“Pet health insurance can ease vet-bill shock”—and toss it into the paper.
McPoochie must have stopped reading there, because the rest of the story doesn’t really fulfill the promise of that hedline.
Consider:
Even with pet insurance, hassle-free coverage is no guarantee. Nicole Abbott found this out the hard way.
When the Chicago attorney learned that her company offered pet insurance as part of its benefits package, she immediately signed up her beloved pugs Bella and Chooch.
At the end of last year, Chooch developed an unusual type of stones in his bladder, requiring $500 worth of testing and a $1,200 surgery.
But the insurance company denied the claim, saying Chooch – who previously had problems with routine bladder stones – had a pre-existing condition.
“I tried everything, and they wound up saying I’d have to appeal to the state agency that oversees insurance,” Abbott said.
“I’d spend hours at that point, so I just said, ‘Forget it. It’s not worth it.’ ”
Shortly after Abbott got Bella, the dog had a seizure and required hundreds of dollars worth of treatment. The pet-insurance company claimed Bella’s seizure came one day shy of her policy going into effect, so the treatment wasn’t covered. Abbott disputed that claim, but again hit a brick wall.
But yesterday could not have been a good day for McPoochie.
He has a new threat to face.
Another editor is, you might say, pissing on his territory.
Consider this story, “Popularity rises for pet health insurance”, published yesterday in the Republic’s business section.
It was the second story in as many days the Arizona Republic has published about dog insurance.
McPoochie could see, however, that his competition was not in his league.
It’s hard to believe, but the paper’s business section published a story not just on the same subject, but demonstrably worse than the wire story McPoochie came up with.
The wire story, from the Chicago Tribune, led with a pretty good anecdote about an adorable Lab who swallowed a teacup.
The Republic’s stirring lede, on its version of the story?
The humanization of pets and the increased costs of veterinary care have sparked a burgeoning industry: pet health care.
Sizzling prose!
And the Republic didn’t bother to do what the Tribune did as a matter of course—find someone who can illustrate the down side of the story.
I mean, the Tribune article was a shitty idea for an article, but it was reported out with integrity.
The Republic story doesn’t give readers the downside, and instead spends a lot of time letting people who sell pet insurance talk about the industry’s rosy future …
Within the next few years, it’s likely the rising cost of veterinary care will increasingly convert pet owners without health-care plans into clients, said Doris Amdur, founder of United Pet Care, a health-care company that offers discount plans.
… and relating stories that don’t make sense, like this one:
Teri Morris secured pet insurance for her dog Bella, 9, about 5 years ago.
Although Bella hasn’t had any major health problems, Morris knows vet bills can get expensive quickly.
Morris' dog Scooby died a year ago, after she spent about $8,000 in vet bills to treat his diabetes, thyroid dysfunction and bladder cancer, she said.
“At least some of that would have been covered if he had been insured,” she said.
Ok, so she had insurance for one dog for five years, but he hasn’t gotten sick. And she had another dog, who died a year ago, but he wasn’t insured? Why didn’t she insure both dogs?
Somewhere, Scruffy McPoochie is laughing.
6:32 AM
More important dog news from the Arizona Republic!
In recent posts we have noted that the Living section of the Arizona Republic has published a lot of stories about dogs—more than you’d expect from a paper that doesn’t print enough news about people.
We finally came to conclusion that the section was being edited by a dog, and even found a picture of the editor in question, which you can see here.
Reading the Living section and keeping in mind that that’s the fellow in charge helps in understanding some of the editorial choices the paper makes on a given day.
The pieces were in most cases crappy little wire-service stories about pet-related products or ephemera.
There was the one about dogs on Facebook:
“Busy social network for the furry set.”
And one about dogs on Twitter:
“Dogs can tweet, too (sort of).”
There was a story about swanky places to board your dog:
“Posh pads for pampered pooches.”
And then, mind-blowingly, another story about swanky places to board your dog:
“Ritzy pet resorts replace kennels of yesterday.”
While examining some old files here at PHXated world headquarters we came across a torn-out front page of the Living section from February.
We realized that we’d missed some of the paper’s hard-hitting dog coverage.
We mention it now because it’s quite a story.
It’s about a church (in LA, not Phoenix, because this is just another space-filling wire story), that allows dogs.
This is how it begins, emphasis added:
As the Presbyterian service was about to start, one of the congregants was being disruptive, making a spectacle of himself once again on a Sunday. But that’s what other members of the Los Angeles church have come to expect from Mr. Booby.
At Covenant Presbyterian Church in the city’s Westchester neighborhood, dogs like Mr. Booby are welcome congregants at the Sunday night services, where howling and sudden bouts of scratching may interrupt prayers, and the collection plate holds treats for poodles and golden retrievers alike.
The hedline?
“Howl-lelujah: Church includes dogs”
12:33 PM
Meet the new editor of the Arizona Republic's Living section!
Back in February, readers of the Arizona Republic’s feature section were given a wire-service story about dogs on Facebook:
“Busy social network for the furry set.”
Then there was the story about … dogs on Twitter:
“Dogs can tweet, too (sort of).”
Then came a hard-hitting story about pet boarding:
“Posh pads for pampered pooches.”
Then a story about a “therapy dog” who, sniff sniff, died:
Most of these stories were wire copy, which means that instead of figuring out a way to get vibrant and essential local news into the section with folks on staff, the editor is just picking shmaltzy fluff out of the free copy the paper has available to it from the various news services it subscribes to.
You might think, after all that, that the Living section had scraped the bottom of the barrel when it came to bland and inoffensive dog news …
… and you’d be right.
Today the section has a front-page story on … Posh pads for pampered pooches!
It’s the second wire service story the section has run on this topic in the past two months.
The hedline and the story are different, but the idea is the same.
This one is called “It’s a dog’s life: Ritzy pet resorts replace kennels of yesterday.”
It’s about an upscale “pet resort.”
In Charlotte, North Carolina.
Why a paper in a industry fighting for its life would just give up in this way is a puzzlement.
… until we discovered who is currently editing the section:
8:31 AM
PHXations—Tuesday, June 1
Brewer, Obama to meet on immigration
President Obama intends to meet with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday, a White House official told FoxNews.com, after criticism mounted over reports the president wouldn’t be able to meet her while she is in Washington this week.
More on FOXNews.com
Arizonans to vote on medical marijuana:
A statewide measure allowing for medical marijuana clinics to be opened in Arizona has qualified for the November ballot.
The Arizona Medical Marijuana Project said Tuesday the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office confirmed the necessary 153,365 voter signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. If approved, the Arizona Department Health Services would regulate medical marijuana clinics in state. Patients suffering from conditions or diseases such as Parkinson’s, cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS would be able to buy pot for medical and pain alleviating uses.
A different legislature? One can only dream.
Even if all of the incumbents running for the state Legislature win their bids for re-election on Nov. 2, the Capitol will be a very different place next year.
Twenty-four lawmakers have reached the end of their four consecutive two-year term limit and cannot run for their same seat; another 15 have announced they will not be seeking re-election.
Alas, I’m not holding my breath. In Arizona politics it seems that the more things change, the more they say the same…
Courts rejects Goldwater Institute… again
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 1 refused to block the distribution of so-called “matching funds” to candidates running for office under Arizona’s Clean Elections law.
The court denial of the request filed by the Goldwater Institute and some candidates left the door open for a full appeal of a lower court decision.
That April 21 decision upheld the parts of the law that provide extra taxpayer support for publicly funded candidates who are outspent by privately funded opponents or independent groups.
Let’s give it credit: The Arizona Republic covers dog news as well as any paper in America.
Dogs on Twitter, dogs on Facebook, “Posh pads for pampered pooches” …
Today, the lede story in the Living section story about a doggie named Gabriel who … (sniff) died.
The hedline is “Gabriel gets his wings.”
The web hedline is “Gabriel’s Angels therapy dog left indelible paw prints on children’s hearts.”
The story says that, since he died, Gabriel has gained 1000 new followers on Twitter.
It’s been three years since noble Bandit was left in a Chandler cop car, which the Valley’s media outlets scrambled the jets to cover over a period of what seemed like months.
Arizona’s new one percent sales tax goes into effect today.
As we drive around in our Hummers and SUVs to this Starbucks or that Whole Foods, let’s remember that poor and working people will be buying their kids one percent less food, taking their families out for one percent less fun, and come fall, spending one percent less on back-to-school clothes.
But it’s just one percent. It’s not like these folk weren’t already under enormous pressure living in an economically backwards state whose jobs base, spurred by an unsustainable housing bubble and nothing else, wasn’t already in the toilet.
Oh, wait …
5:34 PM
The living section at the Arizona Republic just ... gives up
As we’ve noticed previously, on a lot of days, the Arizona Republic living section will lack any locally generated copy. The front page will be a mishmash of wire stories about subjects that have nothing to do with Arizona or Phoenix.
Today there was a crappy little wire story about… dogs on Twitter. Well, that’s what it seemed, anyway, but it turns out it was just a junky toy from Mattel that basically just randomly posted to a Twitter account from a set of canned tweets.
The story seemed a bit samey to me. I poked around a little and found a wire story from two weeks ago about … dogs on Facebook.
3:50 AM
1