"Opinion" posing, in this case posted, as "News"

To be sure, regular readers of NewsBusters are already fully aware of the line that is supposed to exist between the opinion pages and the news pages in print media and that it has not only bled together but is also pretty much gone afer bleeding to death. But check this out......

My local newspaper, the State Journal Register (Springfield Illinois, ummmm well, printed in Peoria Illinois now) has stepped it up to a new level recently. They don't even try, anymore, to hide the reality that opinion is presented as news, indeed, they are quite up front about it - in a semi covert kind of way.

Look to their front page online, which changes several times throughout the day, and you will see, at some point during the day, the "Latest News" section that consists of several links to different news stories. Daily, I have watched as a link to the "Our Opinion" page, which is the State Journal Register's editorial column, is presented within the "Latest News" category. The kicker? Hilariously, there is already a tab, front and center atop the webpage to "Opinions", complete with a rollover function that presents a link directly to the "Our Opinion" page.

And they actually wonder why subscriptions are falling off and why they are printing smaller numbers of papers to sell as each month and year passes. Really?

Are newspapers in your area, fellow NewBusters readers, doing this too? Have others done this for some time now?

A couple of other questions - When will embarrassment set in upon those folks who have spent their lives working toward a career they could be proud of? When do the real journalists stand up and take back their profession from those so intentionally perverting it? Have all the folks who still care about the reputation of the "journalist" profession went to the web instead to bolster the "blogger" profession because "journalist" as a term is just so far gone that it cannot be revived?