I hit the Sun-Sentinel last week for whoring up its news with a vapid cover story on slot machines in an obvious attempt to curry favor with the big-advertising pari-mutuels. Today it's time to turn to the Miami Herald, which has strapped on its knee pads for ... CompUSA.
This morning the newspaper's Business Monday section is led by a story on CompUSA's "bold retail experiment" in selling its products. The story is nauseating -- it's about some marketer's idea to save the struggling franchise by selling more products on the Internet (groundbreaking!) and connecting all the computers in the store together to show advertising and product-related images.
Well, CompUSA also clearly has another bold retail experiment: To pimp out the Miami Herald. The company has bought a lot of advertising and become one of the newspaper's "partners." How do I know this? The Herald e-mails me ads from its partners all the time and on Friday, they sent out an ad for, you guessed it, CompUSA, and the company's second "Black Friday" sale.
"We're bringing you the absolute BEST, most INSANE (yes, we're certifiably loony tunes) deals you've seen anywhere ... AGAIN!" the Herald ad blared.
Coincidence? The Pulp reports, you decide.
Other items:
-- Lead headline on the Sun-Sentinel's web page: "Body bags unloaded from boat sent to look for crash victims."
Harrowing story, but maybe they should send the body bags to locate a better-written headline.
-- And renowned food critic Gail Shepherd takes a visit to Scott Rothstein's new restaurant, Boca Prime, on Las Olas. We know Rothstein is on a roll, but if you want to find out if the GOP lawyer's entrees are successful, you'll have to click here.
