For the second time in three days, The Wall Street Journal gives prominent play to the Seattle mayoral primary*. To which I have to say: Who cares?
On Tuesday, the paper dropped a piece too long for a news take about the upcoming election but too short to actually tell a real story of interest to anyone outside Puget Sound—on A3, telling readers there were “Clouds Over Seattle Mayor’s Election Bid.”
Okay. Clouds, huh? Maybe there’s some kind of interesting story here worthy of a classic Journal take on some obscure topic you didn’t know you cared about.
Nah. It’s just a straight story telling us the Seattle mayor is in trouble because of a snowstorm, a tunnel, and his image as a bully. Here’s the half-hearted attempt to make it interesting to a Journal reader:
The election comes as Seattle tries to shake off the effects of the weak economy, which has led to job losses and financial strife at the area’s biggest corporate icons, including Microsoft Corp., Starbucks Corp. and Boeing Co.
Today the paper follows with a news story on A5 reporting on the vote counting. Not the official results—the in-process counting of the votes (“more than half”), which has the incumbent running behind 1.6 percentage points.
This is important enough to take Microsoft reporter Nick Wingfield, one of the best-known tech reporters in the business, off his beat for a couple of days?
* clarified. I originally said it was an election, which implies a general election.
Ryan Chittum is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and deputy editor of The Audit, CJR’s business section. If you see notable business journalism, give him a heads-up at rc2538@columbia.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanchittum.