MediaBloodhound

NYT Front|Back:Demise of Petite Sizes vs. Crisis of Deadly Heroin Mix

The termination of petite sizes trumps the lives of human beings in today's New York Times.

FRONT:

Where's the Petite Department? Going the Way of the Petticoat
Is there a more pressing issue than the reduced number of petite departments in clothing stores? The Times puts the War on Petite Sizes front and center.

Excerpt:

But the love affair with little women appears to be over. Three of the country's most influential fashion emporiums — Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's — have quietly eliminated or drastically scaled back their petite departments in the past several months, infuriating many longtime customers.

BACK (Page A27):

A Deadly Heroin Mixture Is Claiming Dozens of Lives
Fentanyl, a painkiller 80 times more powerful than morphine, is being mixed with heroin before it reaches its users. A growing crisis that's fanning out across America, it's resulted in a rash of deaths that has medical professionals, the CDC and community organizations deeply concerned and desperate to find ways to stem the tide. Just as the effects our draconian drug laws receive short shrift from our mainstream media, it's not surprising The Times sees the deaths of scores of heroin users as meriting little prominence. What's especially egregious is that conspicuous placement of this article might have actually helped to spread the word and save an untold number of lives.

Excerpt:

In the Detroit area, the apparent hub of the problem, with more than 100 confirmed cases since last fall and about two dozen suspected ones in the last week, officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating, and community organizations are scrambling to get the word out. The disease control centers have no national statistics on fentanyl deaths and have been asked to investigate only in Michigan. But reports from a scattering of states indicate the problem is widespread. In Philadelphia, there have been 20 confirmed deaths from heroin mixed with fentanyl since April 17, and test results are pending for eight other cases, according to the Health Department.

NYT Front|Back:Billary's World vs. Afghan Civilian Deaths

This is a new feature on MediaBloodhound. Its inspiration lies in the Paper of Record's penchant for all-too-often running insignificant stories on its front page while, on the same day, burying an important story in its back pages.

Here are today's winners.

FRONT (and lead story):

Clintons Balance Married and Public Lives
A puff piece on how Billary manage their private and political worlds. We need this on the front page like we need Michael Bolton's new Frank Sinatra cover album.

Opening paragraph:

Bill and Hillary Clinton flew to Chicago together last month to deliver speeches a few hours and a few miles apart. And like any couple, they thought about having dinner at day's end. But life is not so simple when you are married to a Clinton.

BACK (Page A10):

U.S. Airstrike at Taliban Kills Civilians, Afghans Say
As with the mainstream media in general, reports of civilian deaths in Iraq or Afghanistan just don't "bleed" enough to lead. The New York Times, however, as the Paper of Record, sets the bar low with its muted focus on civilian war casualties.

Opening paragraph:

American planes in pursuit of suspected Taliban fighters bombed a village in southern Afghanistan on Sunday night and early Monday, killing 16 civilians and wounding 15, among them women and children, the local governor and villagers said Monday.