Pots and Kettles

The Dallas Morning News has run at least two full-page ads patting themselves on the back for delivering the newspaper through the snow and sleet we had the past two or three weeks. "Over the last few days, our carriers did what very few others were able to do. They delivered," they crow.

Well, maybe they did technically, but is it news when it's two days old? I did get my newspapers, but Friday's and Saturday's were delivered on Sunday. . . after the sleet and snow.

Skip over a few pages in the same edition of the paper, and there's an editorial about how DART board members praised the performance of the rapid transit during the storm. "But we have a sharp point of disagreement with those members of DART's policymaking board who bubbled with praise and little else . . . Had everything possible been done to ward off an unprecedented rail shutdown? . . . It's unfortunate that there are see-no-evil, hear-no-evil board members who don't start with the posture that the customer comes first and a tough-minded critique is in order. Internal pats on the back have their place, but not at the head of the agenda."

Perhaps the news editor responsible for this editorial should take the advice he dispenses in his summation: "Ask any company that delivers a service or puts products on shelves. When things go wrong, and customers are unhappy -- really unhappy -- the message can't be: 'But think about how hard we worked. And think about how many people were satisfied.' That will never work."

The Dallas Morning News; February 11, 2011; p. 21A.
"Backward Thinking." The Dallas Morning News; February 11, 2011; p. 28A.