Commemorative issues

Maybe this belongs on the political threads, but I'll start it here ...

So, the AJC with today's editions had two commemorative sections dealing with Obama being elected president. I guess there was easy money to be made there. But does it fall into the category of good journalism? I can't help but wonder, with a mind toward the paper's reputation as left-wing, if they'd have done the same thing had McCain won? Honestly, I don't remember what, if anything, was done in 2000 and 2004. Still, every time I've looked at the paper today, that was the first thing in my mind.

 

What history did Bush make?

i didn't ask for, and place orders for, upward of 20 newspapers from Wednesday because a president was elected. I got them because Barack Obama was elected.

 

Seattle Times did that today, too, with copies of the Times' and PI's covers in them.

 

The Birmingham News, McCain endorsement and all, had an eight-page special section today.

 

Give the people want they want and make money doing it.

Nothing to feel guilty about.

 

Precisely. Politics aside, even if you didn't vote for Obama it's got to be good to see people buying papers for one day.

 

No one would have done a commemorative edition on John McCain because electing an old white Republican wasn't that big a news item. ... and I voted for that old, white Republican. No matter who a paper endorsed, it was smart to A. make extra copies of the Wednesday paper, make posters off that front page, and make t-shirts, and sell them (as many papers did), and B. Have a Sunday commemorative edition, and make sure you have enough to sell this week.

 

San Antonio Express News ran a commemorative edition Sunday.
Good pics, lots of info from the historic (anyway you look at it) campaign

 

I'm told The Washington Post has now printed 1 million commemorative editions....

 

Holy jumpin', that's amazing.

 

I don't think it's necessarily good journalism, but it could have been (obviously I didn't read through the special sections). I think major documentation is warranted considering Obama is the first African-American president-elect of the United States, even if we are several days removed from the election. If it's a lot of talk about his (read: democrat's) policies and so forth, then no, probably not good journalism, but to document the magnitude of electing a minority as president, no matter what the minority, is both good and necessary. In that regard, I think the question of whether they would have done it if McCain had won is moot. But, of course, that's only if the bulk of the commemorative stuff deals with electing an African-American president. Like hondo said, electing an old, white president is nothing new. Good business move, and if done properly, good journalism, too, IMHO