A little bit of Obama, a little bit of outrage

Washington, D.C. was basically a proverbial punch in the face.
I watched a drug dealer get violent, a man get mugged, another have a heart attack and a police officer shove a middle aged woman. All within 48 hours.

The inauguration attracted people of all walks of life. From all over the country they came to play a role in the beginning of what is such a profound chapter in American History.
Never in my entire life have I seen so many people, millions of people in the same 2 mile radius. It was an experience that even now I am having trouble describing with words.

For the most part, things went well. I got to see a good amount of the city. I was a part of a major historic event. I got to see Frank.

I came to D.C. knowing I wasn't going to see Barack Obama. Everyone on staff knew this. We didn't have the media credentials that could get us up close beside The Associated Press, The Washington Post, CNN or The New York Times. This didn't matter because we came for a different story-- the culture of this event.

My story immediately jumped out at me the second I wandered out The National Mall last Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands came to see this man speak and so few of them actually did. People stood on the tops of the great wall of portajohns, bending this way and that so that just maybe, possibly they could get a glimpse of what was happening on a giant TV screen a quarter of a mile away. If you came to watch him actually swear to god and give his speech, you were better off going back to your hotel and watching it on CNN.

The photos and story aligned perfectly. But, our Editor in Chief still wanted a short piece on the inaugural speech, so I wrote it up, intending for it to stand as a sidebar. It made sense, that is after all why all of those people were there.
Imagine my disappointment when I visited CM-Life.com the next day to a huge AP photo of Barack Obama at the Capitol. You know, the same photo, alongside the same story that ran on the front page of every other newspaper in the country.

I was upset. At that time I felt like it was a waste that we even went-- why bother sending reporters if you're just going to yoink your material from the web? Why did I even bother trying to get a unique perspective?
Not to mention there were a few really stupid typos that got through that should have been easily caught by the staff as well as some some really terrible headlines.
My least favorite was the line that was plopped atop my column: "A Witness to History: Glad I brought a notebook."

1.) If this was an attempt at cute, it failed miserably.
2.) I am pretty sure I went to D.C. with the intention of doing reporting while I was there.
3.) I always carry a notebook. Always.

I don't know, I just found it demeaning. We addressed my concerns and got everything out in the open.

Here's my coverage if you're interested. None of it got 4-stars even though I think it's probably the best work I've ever done. It is worth noting though that some people--Garret, our Managing Editor--did argue on my behalf. It's also the most page space I've ever covered-- both the front page and the front of Lifeline.


Here is what I considered to be the top story (Ran on A1)
Here is what actually ran above the fold (Ran on A1)
Here is my culture piece (Ran on B1)
Here is my column--the one with the demeaning headline (Ran on B1)

To further annoy me and get me fired up all over again, a group of merchandisers seem to be using my culture article and a variety of Matt's photos to promote themselves.
They give CM-Life.com credit, but note that the photos come from Flickr. I don't like the idea of people making money off of my work and am considering emailing the webmaster with requests to remove everything. I just don't know if I am able to do so. Anyone know the specifics of the legalities on this?