Thursday

The Associated Press' first article after the release of the document was on Thursday. The original 1100+ word AP article covered what the pope said, some of the reaction, and possible implications. However, the afternoon Wheeling News-Register ran only the first half of the article and not on the front page but on page 5. Here is the final sentence in the News-Register version of the article:

It's a blunt, readable booklet full of zingers that will make many conservatives and climate doubters squirm, including in the U.S. Congress, where Francis will deliver the first-ever papal address in September.

Here is how the AP finished that paragraph:

It has already put several U.S. presidential candidates on the hot seat since some Republicans, Catholics among them, doubt the science behind global warming and have said the pope should stay out of the debate.

The article goes on for another 500+ words. I would encourage you to read the full AP article, here for instance. Some of what was left behind in the News-Register version:

Francis accepts as fact that the world is getting warmer and that human activity is mostly to blame.

And:

Citing the deforestation of the Amazon, the melting of Arctic glaciers and the deaths of coral reefs, he rebukes "obstructionist" climate doubters who "seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms." And he blames politicians for listening more to oil industry interests than Scripture or common sense.

The News-Register also covered the encyclical on the front page with an article by local reporter Heather Ziegler on Bishop Michael J. Bransfield's reaction to the pope's message. The article suggests that Bransfield did not get very specific preferring vague generalities especially when compared to what the AP report had said. The article did not mention "climate change" or "fossil fuels" and had only two references to "ecology." My personal reaction was that the bishop was avoiding anything controversial and, more importantly, Ziegler was not about to press him on the topics. (Note -- for a much more critical take on the bishop's reaction see this article by David Gutman in the Charleston Gazette.)

Friday

Yesterday morning the Intelligencer's only coverage of the encyclical was to run the Ziegler article and there was nothing in the News-Register.

Saturday

This morning's Intelligencer had two stories on the front page of its "Faith" section. The first, "Pope Challenges World to Clean Up Its Filth" from the Associated Press, covered much of the same ground as the AP's Thursday article. This time the Intelligencer dropped the last 30% of the original AP article including material similar to what was dropped from the News-Register's AP article (deforestation of the Amazon, melting of the Arctic glaciers).

On the same Intelligencer page was another article, "Climate Message Yields Little GOP Response," which summarized the lack of support for the pontiff from conservative Republican lawmakers:

Pope Francis' call for dramatic action on climate change drew a round of shrugs from congressional Republicans, while a number of the party's presidential candidates ignored it entirely.

Once again, the Intelligencer chose to shorten the original article (this time by 37%). Most of what was dropped covered some of the thoughts of Republican presidential hopefuls but the original article, also included a perspective on the popularity of the Republican congress:

Francis enjoyed a 70 percent popularity rating in a poll by the Pew Research Center earlier this year; Congress, by contrast, routinely polls in the teens.

Note - I could not link to the two Saturday articles - they are not currently online.

A conclusion

The results of closely reading three days worth of local "newspaper" coverage of the pope's encyclical did not surprise me. The "newspapers" ignored the story on the front page (other than a soft piece on the bishop's reaction) and when it did use AP stories, it usually dropped the last half of the article as well as any criticism of climate change deniers. By means of comparison, the Intelligencer-favorite, Attorney General Morrisey, who did nothing notable in same three days other than attend meetings, got far better coverage than Pope Francis' message on the environment.