I pick on the Miami Herald a fair bit, although not as much as it deserves given how far it has fallen from its glory days. But I guess that means I should also toss the occasional laurel.
Today’s paper has as its major above-the-fold story an item about how Miami leads the nation in ‘vanity’ — a trait measured in a not-very-serious-manner as follows:
Miami recently ranked as the most vain city in America, based on residents’ responses to a poll conducted by Mandala Research and released by LivingSocial.
The survey found that half of Miami respondents consider themselves an 8, 9 or 10 in looks.
Miami also topped the nation in such procedures as laser hair removal, tummy tucks, liposuction and collagen injections, according to the poll, based on the perhaps-unscientific percentage of respondents who know someone who had the work done.
You might think I would object to such pseudo-science dominating my front page. But in fact, the headline was perfect: “We’re so vain: We probably think this story is about us”. Not what I want to see every day in my paper, but it made me smile. And I imagine it will be talked about. Which actually makes it better than a lot of the dull stuff in that paper.
That said, I might mention two other somewhat bright spots: The Local section has degraded much less than front. There’s still real news there, just not enough of it. And as the news staff of the Herald shrinks, it is running more content from Bloomberg and from the political reporters at its partner newspapers in the state, some of whom are quite good.
As to the looks, I will say that it is often a shock to go back to the North East, especially in winter. Everyone is so pale and unhealthy-looking…
