Non-newsworthy shampoo imperilled

'...[I]t was instructive to read the LA Times on Wednesday, 24 hours after an earthquake hit the city, causing exactly zero injuries, and (much to the disappointment of TV's rolling news channels) failing to seriously damage one building.

 

Photos on the front page (headline: "Why we rolled with the punch") revealed that some shampoo bottles had been knocked off the shelf of a K-Mart, and a window was smashed at a building in Pomona. But the real fun was to be had underneath the inside page report. There, an extended joint by-line listed all the reporters who had been dispatched by [LA Times exec Tony] Pierce to cover the tremor. It carried a total of 39 names, neatly demonstrating that everything really is bigger in the US – even the number of men it takes to skin a cat'

 

- Guy Adams, The Independent, 4 August 2008

 

[The number of journalists it takes to skin a cat, surely.  The earthquake was hardly impressive: it was only a 5.4]