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Des Moines Register Breakdown
Carson King, Aaron Calvin and the Des Moines Register showing what not to do
Before the phrase “there is nothing new under the sun” was canonized in scripture, it is safe to assume it had already been in the vernacular for a while. Even working with half of the human history we have today that the writer of Ecclesiastes had, it still would have held true, because human behavior is universal and timeless. Especially the lesser angels of our nature, which exhibit themselves in bad decisions, failures of leadership, and the follow on questions of “what were you thinking?”
That phrase has been uttered a great deal in regard to the Carson King-Aaron Calvin mess. When the Des Moines Register tasked Calvin with working up a profile on the viral sensation, it is doubtful they thought they would end up here, days later, with one less employee, a hit to their reputation, and media and public alike questioning their editorial process and judgement. After all, the feel good story of a beer sign guy on ESPN giving away a million dollars in charity is about as boilerplate an assignment as a writer can get. It writes itself, practically.
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe Aaron Calvin just needed to do some big “J” journalism instead of just working a profile and pounding out a few hundred sunny words on…
