We were due. Long overdue. It was early April when the Intelligencer last asserted how immensely important Wheeling's two "newspapers" are to the Ohio Valley. To make up for this deficiency, readers of today's Intelligencer were treated to a double-dose of "aren't we the greatest" in the form of a front-page article and an editorial. The reason is that the Intelligencer was designated a National Historic Site in Journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists. (Let me be clear, the newspaper deserves to be deemed historically significant. However, that's not an excuse for all the self-aggrandizing material that's included with the history.)

If you check the Society's web page, the award is clearly for the newspaper's historic importance and not for what the newspaper is currently doing. If you read the front page article and the editorial, the historical award becomes an excuse for the Intelligencer to brag about its current form. Among a number of self-serving quotes, this one by Michael Myer is my favorite:

Our editorial pages are strong advocates not for any particular ideology or special interest - but for the public."

Yeah, right.

If you're out on National Road this weekend and pass Greenwood Cemetery, you might want to take a quick glance toward the cemetery to see if any of the graves are spinning. If you see one spinning furiously, rest assured that it's Archibald Campbell's. Campbell was an Unconditional Unionist and the Intelligencer's first important Editor - much of the credit for this award ought to go to him for his leadership in the fight against slavery and his support for West Virginia statehood in the cause of the Union. Needless to say, he's ignored in the self-congratulatory pieces.

By the way, I think Campbell would be appalled at what has happened to his newspaper.