OK, so some dude is standing outside the CVS Pharmacy on the corner of Brady and Farwell holding a sign reading, "CVS: Where is the Shepherd Express?"

Seems the guy is upset that he can no longer get his weekly newspaper at the drug store, but he can still get a copy of MKE, Auto Guide, Wisconsin Auto & RV and Job Dig. The bigger issue, apparently, is if this is part of a right-wing conspiracy from the Rhode Island corporation that recently bought Osco.

Newsworthy? Barely -- maybe. Iffy, at best.

But especially not if you're the Shepherd Express, and you decide to devote a full-on article about the topic, referring to yourself in the third-person, quoting the efforts of your publisher to get your magazine back on the shelves.

The "free-lance journalist who has no affiliation with the Shepherd" got ticketed … free speech … first amendment … yadda, yadda. Riveting journalism, indeed.

I particularly like this line:

"Shepherd publisher Louis Fortis said he repeatedly called the Rhode Island headquarters to determine why CVS changed its policy, but did not receive a response. Fortis heard from other sources that a customer in Wauwatosa complained about the Shepherd's criticism of President Bush and the war in Iraq and demanded that the paper be pulled from the store."

I wasn't aware that CVS was mandated to carry any newspapers on their shelves. Maybe they just ran out of room. Maybe they just didn't like the escort ads in the back pages.

Anyway, the story's not the interesting part here -- it's the story about the story that got our attention. If you absolutely must write about yourself, make sure it's at least newsworthy. (Before you Talkback about the Bush visit to the OMC headquarters in 2005 and the story we wrote about the experience, please consider the difference in these two topics: guy holding sign outside CVS, versus presidential visit to Milwaukee dot com company.)

Not that I was expecting Pulitzer-Prize winning journalism from the Shepherd, but next time, please try to make it look a little less self-promoting.

Read and judge for yourself at the link below.