Aw, And They Were So Close

This morning'c catbox-liner showed up just in time. I was set to be annoyed at the front page, where a photo of -- oh, just guess! -- teabags illustrated a story about Indiana's Tea Party movement. But the story was relatively fair, occasionally even positive (I guess some of those layers of editorial oversight must be on vacation?) and idiotic graphic elements are, after all, a Gannett hallmark. The front page, above-the-fold story and a related one continues in a sprawl across most of two pages in the first section and include a box with information for the Indianapolis Tax Day Tea Party and the organizer's URL.

Splendid stuff; the paper's taking this grass-roots movement seriously!

Yep. Taking it for a ride, too. Y'see, aside from a promotional blurb, you won't read any of this on the newsrag's website. It's print-only. You wanna read it? Pay up! Fair enough, I guess, and it keeps the story from wider exposure on the Web, where the coastal elite might see it an' snicker at 'em. Or is it just me who suspects that might've been a factor?