Burying the garbage, burying the lead

Last night a meeting was held at Paul Quinn College to talk about an idea that could not only bring many new jobs to South Dallas, but also completely eliminate the McCommas Bluff Landfill.

In journalism circles, “the lead,” or the opening of any news story, is supposed to contain the main news element. However, in this Channel 11 report, we didn’t learn about the potential for new jobs or converting the outdoor landfill into an indoor fuel-producing facility until the end and even then it seemed like an afterthought. DeWitt Riddick and C. Richard King, two of my old journalism professors at the University of Texas at Austin, would cringe watching this.

Bringing higher-tech jobs to South Dallas has always seemed to be a priority of many of our locally elected officials. It’s a shame that went an idea comes along to do just that it is treated this way by the media.