"When people told me I wasn't talented, I proved them wrong," he says. "And when they told me a black guy couldn't do a syndicated show, I proved them wrong, too. The politics of Denver is what it is, but it has not been powerful enough to reach out and touch me across this land."
Ken Hamblin broadcasts in-your-face radio—everywhere but Denver.
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The release last week of circulation figures from the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News occasioned one of the most entertaining examples of spin this side of a Pedro Martinez curveball. The numbers, compiled by the Illinois-based Audit Bureau of Circulations, showed sizable jumps for both papers, but the News, which had already touted its growth in an article last month (The Message, October 21), made by far the bigger splash, topping the Post's weekday totals for the first time since 1996 and narrowing the Post's lead on Sundays by approximately two-thirds. The News ballyhooed this accomplishment on its November 11 cover and in a page-five article, "News Takes Daily Circulation Lead," that overflowed with hyperbole from the likes of "elated" publisher Larry Strutton. The Post, meanwhile, stuck its circulation report in the business section, pairing the headline "Post Sets Records for Sales" with the subhead "Circulation shows 'real' strong growth." The key to the latter statement was the emphasis on the word "real"; the unsigned article went on to argue that the News had won by virtually giving away its papers in a penny-a-day subscription offer that was badly hurting its parent company, Cincinnati's E.W. Scripps, while Post customers actually paid a decent rate for their copies. To counter this argument, the News reported that the Post was peddling subscriptions "for the deepest discount ever offered in this market" as late as 4 p.m. the previous day. Then, to rub in its victory, the News ran a double-truck ad that screamed, "Look Who's Colorado Now!" a snotty play on the Post's Columbine-like slogan "We Are Colorado."
Of course, the stories in both papers left out or tinkered with facts that might not have cast them in the best light, but that's nothing new. Consider the pieces about sexual predators on the Internet that ran on the front page of the November 8 Post, neither of which mentioned perhaps the most prominent local to be convicted for such a crime in the last year or so: former Post business reporter David Algeo. Or maybe it's just that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand has been doing.
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