Daily Record: A Doughnut Company?s Dream (Outtakes Opinion)
by July 5, 2004 12:00 am 64 views
We’ve been flabbergasted and flummoxed by the Benton County Daily Record’s Page 1 coverage of a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop opening in Bentonville on June 29. The newspaper’s reporting was so over the top we started wondering if Krispy Kreme is owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Jim Walton, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, is primary owner of the Bentonville newspaper.)
On June 24, the Daily Record carried a story above the fold on Page 1 with the headline “Krispy Kreme traffic strategy being finalized.” Two days later, the Daily Record published another Page 1 story saying three off-duty police officers would help direct traffic the first week after Krispy Kreme opens. (Two off-duty officers would help with traffic the second week.) The paper then caked on more Krispy front-page stories on June 29 and June 30.
We checked the day Krispy Kreme opened, and Danny Stratton, a police dispatcher, said there had been no complaints about traffic problems near the doughnut shop that day.
“We haven’t had one call,” he said. “Everything seems to be running smoothly.”
We figure all those off-duty cops will find something to do at a doughnut shop.