Here's an Eye-Roller

I know what it's like to be a reporter and have to meet certain expectations with copy. The news hole is so big, and if the story I've submitted for it is short, well then, it's time to find some padding.

I found today a story that has such padding -- but the kind of padding that represents a reporter going for the low-hanging fruit. Even worse, it's on a website, where you'd think a news hole gap wouldn't be that much of an issue -- but since this is from an industry that has and old media mindset, that's what you get. Cutting and paseting from one medium to another just doesn't work in this case.

Here's the story (for those who don't like links, it's about a Florida woman who called 911 three times to complain that McDonalds was out of Chicken McNuggets). The padding is in the final two paragraphs:

McNuggets, introduced to the McDonald’s national menu in 1983, are sold in more than 100 countries and, unlike the McDouble, are often dunked in barbecue or hot mustard sauce.

Goodman’s 10-piece selection has 460 calories and 29 grams of fat.

Now, had the reporter written about the history and caloric content of the food McDonalds proposed to give the woman in substitution for the McNuggets, maybe that would have been more pertinent. But only barely.