In a little follow-up to my last post about the media having less trust from the American people than ever, almost everyone knows that politicians (and their staffers) strive to get their stories in the paper. It’s their job. Some of them are darn good at getting their bosses’ names in the paper for good stuff. They fire off press release after press release (kind of like throwing crap against the wall to see if any of it sticks) to get some PR.

U.S. Senator Jon Tester issued a press release about the Port of Whitetail closing and the Helena Independent Record (IR) published a story about the Port of Whitetail closing. Senator Tester called his press release: “Tester: Dept. of Homeland Security begins process of closing Port of Whitetail” and the Helena Independent Record called their story, “DHS begins process of closing Port of Whitetail.”

Those were about all the differences. You can read the press release HERE and the story HERE.

Here are some examples of the journalism from the Helena IR (or Senator Tester’s staff):

Tester: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will begin the process of closing the Port of Whitetail in northeastern Montana, U.S. Senator Jon Tester announced today.

IR: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will begin the process of closing the Port of Whitetail in northeastern Montana, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced today. (Notice the AP Style change on Senator to Sen.) Continue reading →