The Tuesday Democrat-Gazette is always one of the smaller editions of the week and I know reporters are frustrated that it can't always contain their work. It had some good reporting today, like the excellent lottery article mentioned earlier. That wasn't all. I was even enlightened by Wally Hall, who had a progress report on Fitz Hill's work at Arkansas Baptist College.

But how to explain the newspaper's failure to pick up the Associated Press' enterprise reporting on the firing of a prison officer who allowed a mentally disturbed inmate to almost die from lying in his own feces? It was a story that included other outrages -- a nurse lap dancing for the officer, lapses in patrols, potlucks in the prison kitchen. And it comes in the context of multiple prison personnel lapses.

Space was available for this story. The newspaper found room for wire copy about an academic paper by an agricultural historian, a full column on a firefighters memorial statue passing through Hot Springs, a story about combination of cancer services in Northwest Arkansas and last week's news about the naming of a UA dean.

The Democrat-Gazette is a good newspaper, far better than most in cities this size and better than those in many larger cities as well. But its lack of urgency will send people to other sources for news. Noted, particularly, is the increasing 24-hour vigor of local TV websites and instant messaging through e-mail and Twitter that brought TV station followers this prison story yesterday afternoon. Come Wednesday morning -- if the D-G catches up then -- it will be very old news.

UPDATE: I'm informed that the Democrat-Gazette did not use the AP story because it had reported the firing of the prison officer previously. Yes, that's true. On the jump, I print the entire version of the April 30 D-G story. Compare with what the AP dug up from its FOI request and tell me whether you think it advanced the story substantially -- enough to merit mention. I'd say it did. Among the things missing from D-G account: The extent of the inmate's illness; lap dancing; prison dinner parties.

FROM THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE APRIL 30

2 fired after inquiry into unclean cell

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Two supervisors at the Tucker Maximum Security Unit in Tucker have been fired during an investigation into an inmate who was left in a cell smeared with his own feces for at least several hours, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction said Wednesday.

The cell was soiled by an inmate over the weekend of Jan. 17-18, Correction Department spokesman Dina Tyler said. A sergeant at the prison failed to clean up the mess despite being directed to do so by his supervisor, Lt. John Glasscock, she said.

The cell wasn’t cleaned until the next Monday, when other employees discovered it, she said.

Under department policy, she said, employees should have immediately removed the inmate from the cell and cleaned it.

The sergeant was fired Feb. 11, and the warden ordered an internal investigation into why the cell hadn’t been cleaned sooner. Glasscock was placed on administrative leave on Feb. 23 and was fired March 17 after department officials determined that he had lied to internal investigators, Tyler said.

She declined to name the sergeant, saying he can still appeal his firing.

Comments

Notice this glaring error in the AP story:

"Prisons spokeswoman Dina Tyler described the inmate's death as unprecedented. "I think what you've got here is a case of a couple of officers who were not doing their jobs up to their standards and we took appropriate action," Tyler said Monday."

Says the "inmate's death." The inmate didn't die.

Posted by: Newspaperboy | June 23, 2009 09:38 AM

What are we crying about we raised , or raised their Fathers and Mothers anyway, both inmate and guards. I watched one grow up at one of our local eateries, Went and made him a jump suit up to match the fly boys of air evac, and would join them at there lunch table, not a small child a teenager. Now he is a guard at a 24-7 lock down, scary. Even the air-evac people found themselves another place for lunch. What kind of test do they give these people? And the Nurse, well I'm getting to close to nursing home age to say much on this.

Posted by: Americonio | June 23, 2009 10:03 AM

So who chooses the stories that fill our papers? I say "papers" because I regularly grit my teeth at the odd choices of news to run made by the Pine Bluff Commercial. Then just as I make my repeatedly "final decision" to cancel, they have a few good days. Seems to me there must be somebody filling in who is a real ditz -- in my considered opinion.

Posted by: Doigotta | June 23, 2009 10:04 AM

What kind of test do they give these people, Americonio? Breathe on a mirror, maybe? I know one guard whose grades throughout school were Ds and Fs. Guess I should be glad he doesn't have to wear the white duds, right?
And after this, I'm out to plant some fall tomatoes. Before it gets too hot? Uh, no. Just went out with the dog and it's HOT already. So I'll be back in FAST.

Posted by: Doigotta | June 23, 2009 10:11 AM

We've already got elected leaders who don't give a damn about healthcare for their constituents or trying to save a dying middle class...who don't care about anything but corporations/the military industrial complex and reelecting their sorry hides. Imagine how bad things will be when the corporate media et al manage to kill off what's left of investigative journalism. Then we can sit back and rely on government/corporate PR departments to tell us how great everything is and how everyone except unions/poor folk is doing a great job...happy happy news. Just kill off what's left of the unions and kick all us poor folks off the wealthy's abused tits and America will be great again...bastards all.

Posted by: zelda | June 23, 2009 10:14 AM

I agree that the AD-G dropped the ball (are you awake, Fellone?) by not running the story about a prison officer who allowed a mentally disturbed inmate to almost die. But, in my opinion, the AT Blog's ignition fails, too, and often. For example(s), I've yet to see anything here about (1) LR's economy being the 7th strongest among the nation's 100 largest metro areas; (2) the state topping all but six others in growth of income; (3) the former Smackover school superintendent (fired after being charged with DWI) being hired by the Bearden school district as a principal; or (4) the Texas federal judge who was impeached by the House after being imprisoned for lying about sexual assaults of two women. There was room for all those stories. Not criticizing (nobody can cover it all). Just sayin'.

ARK. BLOG: Sure. I follow a highly selective and personal approach, with a preference for local stories and a preference for stories that, for the most part, have not already been reported in the daily newspaper unless I have something further to say about them. There are also 225 or so of them and 1 to 3 of us and I make no pretense of being a full-service newspaper. I don't carry obits or sports scores or weather either. They would be nice to have in some dependable, speedy form. Perhaps the day will come.

As for those rankings: I have a low tolerance for ranking stories. There's a new one every day. Yesterday, it was our high ranking in gun deaths, but I passed that one, too, despite my love of stories that reflect poorly on gun nuts.

I don't think the economy polls told us anything that hasn't been said here repeatedly. Because of little to no industrial base, but a huge base in government and health care, LR has largely been spared the brunt of the economic downturn and both the boom and bust of the housing market. Our pay isn't great, but it isn't terrible and when you are on the lower end, increases, percentagewise, tend to look better here, particularly when others are actually losing ground.

I'll run a ranking now and again, for lack of better, but rarely after they've appeared elsewhere first.

Since you asked, sort of.

Posted by: durangokid | June 23, 2009 10:28 AM

The D-G is feuding with the AP, which broke this story. A couple of weeks ago the D-G questioned whether the AP was hoaxed by someone pretending to be a murder suspect. The AP got it right; the D-G looked foolish. Throw in Griffin Smith's revulsion at bodily functions and you have D-G editors second-guessing each other until nothing happens.

Posted by: Wanda Tinasky | June 23, 2009 10:49 AM

Good lord...perhaps I need to clean my contacts before posting: We already have...enough crappy grammar.

Posted by: zelda | June 23, 2009 10:53 AM

The feud with the AP makes sense. I know two articles that not even the demozette should have missed were read by me in the El Dorado News Times. One was "Inmate Left in Feces Nearly Dies" another was the Smackover Superintendent

However, although the editorial staff may be acting childishly petulant in maliciously ignoring AP stories that are of interest to their "readers" (cutting off their circulation to spite their face). We may all breathe a sigh of relief that they are still so well connected to the Elephant Echo Chamber. The Editorial is right in there trying to assist the GOP fund raising by attempting to revive the Boxer "controversy" from the news cycle four days ago. Especially, when you can hear her say "Thank you" after Brigadier General Michael Walsh says "Yes, Maiam" to her request to be called Senator not Ma'am on the youtube video. CLIK.

Posted by: dottholliday | June 23, 2009 11:44 AM

As far as I am concerned the DOG could fill in with news the left hand side of the editorial page or any of Greenbergs paternalistic articles so that page would contain something worthy of reading.

Posted by: downtowner | June 23, 2009 12:18 PM

Arkansas Blog

Today's media criticism UPDATE

2 fired after inquiry into unclean cell

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