Hey, Herald-Sun, don't take credit for the toy drive if you didn't bring them all yourself

Update: I think I may have been undeservedly harsh to the Herald-Sun in the original post. Will notes in the comments a WRAL story in which DRM director Ernie Mills gives effusive credit to WRAL for the success of the toy drive:

"We were at least a thousand toys short, and we didn't know where they were coming, but WRAL did a story for us, and the toys just started flooding in." -- though to her credit, 'RAL's Stacy Davis handled the moment well on the live shot, nicely deflecting the praise by noting she was glad "WRAL could be a part of it" before moving on with her next question.

Interestingly, DRM's Gail Mills did make the same single-source point to the Herald-Sun in the quote at the story's end, attributing the drive's success to the Herald-Sun's coverage.

After instant replay: this is probably mostly attributable to good PR and media work by the Mission... even if I think the Herald-Sun interpreted what it meant with a bit of a narrow lens on the broader media push, and I still think the paper would have done well to put the comment in a macro frame.

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Prepping the Fishwrap this morning, I was thrilled to see that the Durham Rescue Mission -- which, as we noted here yesterday, sat 1,000 toys short of its collection goal for the holidays -- saw the community come through with a whopping 2,500 toys on Tuesday to allow the charity to meet the needs not only of the needy expected for a holiday party this week, but for homeless children at the Mission to boot.

It's a good holiday story, a moment of cheer as we see the community helping those most in need.

But I had to groan at the overreaching lead to the Herald-Sun's story, by the usually-terrific Neil Offen (emphasis added):

The word went out -- and the community responded. 

The Durham Rescue Mission, which had been 1,000 toys short of its goal of collecting 7,000 gifts for needy children in the community, was overwhelmed with generosity Tuesday. 

Following a front-page article in Tuesday's Herald-Sun that detailed the shortfall, community members brought in thousands of toys. 

Be careful there, Neil -- you might break your arm reaching around to pat the Herald-Sun on the back.

Look, don't get me wrong: the Herald-Sun did a great thing by putting the news on the front page. And I have no doubt it was a key contributor to getting the toys delivered.

But it's not like the Herald-Sun was exclusive on the story. Or the first to run with it.

I learned about the toy drive from WRAL's web site, on Monday night, thanks to a Google Alert. WTVD ABC 11 also carried a piece on it, with their online content noting that toys were being accepted all day Tuesday -- so I imagine its news coverage ran concurrently with the Herald-Sun's.

Oh, and at least two-dozen mentions of the toy drive on Twitter, just from a quick search for "Durham Rescue Mission." The drive got mentioned in many tweets and retweets, even from the Mission itself.

Here's a better idea. Next time, phrase it something like this: "The response came after the word got out about the Durham Rescue Mission's needs through the local media, including a front-page story in Tuesday's Herald-Sun."

Look, there's nothing wrong with acknowledging that your paper played a role in helping the toy collection drive. Maybe even the dominant role.

But to leave an insinuation, intentionally or not, that the response came "following" the Herald-Sun piece, implying causality?

Sorry, my B.S. meter goes off at that one. I'm sitting downtown and I smell this one emanating from all the way over at the corner of Pickett Rd. and Western Bypass.

I hate to intrude upon the positive spirit of the really good news here, the drive's completion, by complaining about this.

But to me, it stinks of a paper trying to overstate its role in the community.

I actually think the Herald-Sun has taken some modest steps forward in the past year in its coverage, notably online, despite the drastic job cuts at the once-proud paper. Although there's a hole big enough to drive a newspaper delivery truck through when it comes to investigative reporting -- and though press releases and special interest/PR-driven stories dominate too much of the news hole.

The Herald-Sun says it wants to be "Trusted and Essential." Essential? Yeah, I think a good local news source is essential.

Trusted? Not when you try to pull off this kind of stunt.

Comments

[Abel Pharmboy]

Spot on commentary. I love the Herald-Sun and have really been rooting for those who still remain employed there. However, the lack of attribution to other sources, especially Twitter (where I learned of the Durham Rescue Mission shortfall), exemplifies why this fishwrapper has been failing.

Fabulous job, as always.

[Will]

I happen to be home today and turned on WRAL news which also ran a story on this and were CLEARLY taking the credit for the toys. They mentioned it a couple of times with something to the effect of....'after our story ran' and 'thanks to us running this story they had a traffic jam of people delivering toys'...

[Wendy @ A Southern Accent]

Yep, I think we all played a part in making this happen. I Tweeted it, Facebooked it, etc. and I think the ability of ALL of us to come together made this happen. I was thrilled to wake up this morning to the story that they achieved and surpassed their goal!

[Tar Heels]

We learned of this issue through BCR's tweet on the topic. I am largely unaware of any other sources of important local news.

[Myers Sugg]

Let us not forget the continued exemplary journalism by a certain HS columnist (whose last name is similar sounding to a recent failed presidential candidate), as another reason the HS has fishwrapper status.
I remind the uninformed telemarketers the HS hires of this reason every 6 months when they call and invite me back into the family.