Herald Hijacks Ghost Ship Tale

The editors at the Miami Herald went off and did it. They sent reporter Casey Woods to the backwoods of Arkansas to make sure they keep owning the ghost ship story. The Sun-Sentinel is splashing it on the front page, but the stories have consistently been full of warmed-up leftovers from the day before. The Herald, meanwhile, plows forward, breaking the news that the real reason that Wal-Mart-manager- turned-bandit and suspected high seas criminal Kirby Archer fled Arkansas was because he was under investigation for sexually abusing boys.

This morning's story is full of local color from Arkansas -- including his "Yankee accent" and penchant for buying beer and hanging out with the teenage crowd after getting off work at Wal-Mart. First-class predator in a creep's clothing. Wonder if he had the boy do the dirty work on the Joe Cool.

To be fair to the S-S, the story is more Miami-based, so it's in the Herald's wheelhouse. But here's why the Sentinel is missing the boat: Everybody is following this story where the two newspapers compete in south Broward, north Dade. And a lot of people must be noticing that the Herald is kicking the Sentinel's ass, affecting reputation and brand name where it really counts. Moral of the story: If you're going to compete, fucking compete.