Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Is this a wacky idea?... paper asks readers to choose flag design to cover entire front page of July 4th edition (updated)

The Herald of Rock Hill, South Carolina is asking readers to vote on an American flag design to run on the front page of the newspaper's July 4th edition.

Not a banner across the top of the page. Not a big photo-style layout.

The flag design will take up the entire front page of the paper.

(Unless there is a breaking news story which needs to be on the front page, in which case the winning flag design will be on the front of Section B.)

The announcement:

On July 4, The Herald will celebrate American freedom with a special front page. But we need your help. Pictured below are four options for our front page.

Please vote for your favorite. The page with the most votes will be our front page on Independence Day.

And, one lucky voter will win a $100 gift pack from Big Daddy's Fireworks!

The deadline for your vote is midnight, Wednesday, July 1. Please limit one entry per person and one entry per email address. You must be 18 or older to enter. The winner will be determined by a random drawing.


Click here for details -- and to see the flag options
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Maybe we should just be glad the options are American flags, not UN flags, and let it go at that.

I'm not sure why, but something seems off-base about the Herald's plan. Help me out here. Is this a cynical ploy to use Independence Day to attract patriotic readers to web site to vote? Does it shove investigative reporting -- the real purpose of paper -- to the back pages? Does it cheapen the idea of Independence Day? Maybe it's a sincere effort by a newspaper to show respect for America.

What do you think?

Update: In comments, some background:
"I work for The Herald and can shed some light on what we're doing. Last year, we also did an all-flag front page on July 4. It was a huge hit with readers -- lots of calls and e-mails thanking us. We also had alternates, but didn't put them on our Web site until after the paper came out. This year we thought it would be fun to let readers help choose the design. That's really all there is to it."

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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not wacky at all.

They are waiting to get someone to offer a design with a bright red background, complete with hammer and cycle, but with a sprinkling of an American flag that can be barely seen.

This way they can say it wasn’t their Marxist ideology, but a subscriber’s idea.

Or, they just want to see how many conservatives still bother to go to their web site.

Anonymous said...

I didn't see the Bam's 57 state flag. Is that racism or something?

Anonymous said...

Obooma sees dead people, and campaigned in 57 states. He says he did, and no one doubts his honesty, do they?? That is how things work when you are from Chicago, dead Democrats vote.
Obooma’s extra seven states are called ‘The Obamanation’ or ‘The ACORN Nation,’ for extra diversity. I demand to see the new 57 state flag as a choice.

Anonymous said...

Psssssst, I heard states 51 - 57 had millions of spooky registered voters. Actually, we should scan that registration list for the names of a certain KC couple. Now, the Obamanation is seeking federal “Sucker Package’ funds to enlarge their new territories. I don’t put much stock in rumors, but I keep hearing Rev. Wright is in the running for the new territory’s czar position.

Anonymous said...

I just voted for the first one. Think it will cost them more. :)

Anonymous said...

Only the kooks who populate McClatchy Watch could find an ulterior motive in what is essentially a creative idea -- although a silly idea, IMO. Oh well, it gave the bitter old men here something to talk to each other about.

Anonymous said...

I thought the Far Left Marxist nutjobs would use the USSR flag design or the United Nations.

Anonymous said...

I work for The Herald and can shed some light on what we're doing. Last year, we also did an all-flag front page on July 4. It was a huge hit with readers -- lots of calls and e-mails thanking us. We also had alternates, but didn't put them on our Web site until after the paper came out. This year we thought it would be fun to let readers help choose the design. That's really all there is to it.

Anonymous said...

2:54 Thank you for your explanation.

And although it does make a lot of sense, how many readers did want a hammer and cycle flag?

Anonymous said...

I am betting a good many of the liberal readers of a very liberal rag suggested a crescent moon flag. How dare the Herald not offer flags for ‘all’ the citizens of the USA! July 4th means what? Refresh me on what we’re celebrating again?

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:13 Touche!

Anonymous said...

I am surprised a Socialist agenda newspaper would even mention the
4th of July, let alone ask readers to choose a flag. Obama tried to appease the leftists by refusing to wear a flag pin, but then covered his stage with 57 flags when he saw that shit wouldn’t fly.