Craig Brown is The Columbian’s editor. Contact him at 360-735-4514 or craig.brown@columbian.com.
Photograph
With per week to go till Christmas Eve, I regarded to see how a lot press we’ve given Santa Claus this 12 months.
The reply, sadly, was not a lot. We hadn’t printed his picture. He had been a part of three native articles, principally listings of native vacation occasions, and had a few passing mentions in wire and syndicated copy. For comparability, Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle bought 35 mentions, Donald Trump had 662, and the Grinch had two.
Santa’s small quantity of press possible would have upset my predecessor. Lou Brancaccio was an ideal editor who had a couple of unwritten guidelines. Publishing a minimum of one picture of Santa Claus someday between Thanksgiving and Christmas was a type of guidelines!
I regarded again to see what sort of press Santa bought throughout Lou’s tenure. I got here throughout considered one of my very own tales, written again in 1997, the place I used Santa as a solution to speak about retail gross sales. It went like this:
“From a mistletoe-green govt armchair on the coronary heart of Vancouver Mall, the CEO of Christmas surveys his realm with a wave and a wink.
“‘It seems that kids aren’t asking for fairly as many issues this 12 months,’ says Santa Claus on a uncommon break between greeting keen younger customers. …
“Maybe Santa has spotted a trend. For some retailers, it’s been a solid, if unspectacular, season.”
The story then goes on to speak about vacation retail gross sales. A bit field with the story listed what youngsters have been asking for many that Christmas: Giga Pets, Barbie dolls and equipment, Beanie Infants, video video games, computer systems, bicycles, and, surprisingly, fishing poles.
Most of our Santa reportage over time got here on weekends, once we staffed reporters and photographers and despatched them to neighborhood festivals and occasions to supply spot options, which we referred to as “monkeyfishes.” (How these tales bought that identify should wait for one more day to be advised.)
We don’t write monkeyfishes anymore; our native weekend staffing is usually in Sports activities. That’s why you’ll sometimes see a sports activities editor’s byline on a police story; they decide up the routine weekend protection moderately than name in a metro reporter or editor on a time without work.
A young topic
Possibly Santa’s diminished press is definitely a superb factor. Writing about Santa Claus could be an unintentional minefield, in response to Amaris Castillo’s story printed not too long ago by the journalism coaching nonprofit Poynter Institute. The story even got here with a “reader discretion advised” label.
A reporter for the Tampa Bay Instances precipitated a furor a few Christmases in the past with a narrative headlined “The delicate Claus question: Is it naughty or nice to encourage kids to believe in the jolly old elf?”
She stated she was amazed on the backlash, with some dad and mom taking to social media to accuse her and the Instances of crusading towards Christian beliefs.
However you’ll be able to write efficiently about Santa. In 2007, a reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser donned the pink go well with and pulled a shift at a mall. He ended up with a fascinating story that didn’t ruffle feathers as a result of he was cautious to establish himself within the story as only a mall Santa. He advised Castillo, “I kind of glossed over the aspect of ‘OK, am I the Santa? There are more Santas?’ ”
With just a few days till Christmas, it’s unlikely we’ll write far more about Santa this season. However I do like the thought of subbing for Santa, and I actually am previous, fats and grey sufficient, so possibly subsequent 12 months!