AP News Now or AP News Two Weeks Old

• Died April 8
• Buried April 13
• AP reports April 20
Good work if you can get it, reporting news that happened two weeks ago.
Doesn't mention that Ratliff had all kinds of problems at UT during his playing days, and was kicked out of school and it seems like the Vols got into some trouble as well because of him.

 

Sometimes you find out about these things well after the fact. Should they have ignored it?

The only that really surprises me is that the AP used the words "passed away" in the second graf, in complete contradiction to the AP Stylebook. (And, yes, there are times when "passed away" is appropriate, but a three-graf news brief ain't one of them.)

 

Kind of off-topic, but I remember my high school team playing his in the first round of the playoffs my senior year. I wasn't on the team, but was writing for the school newspaper. I remember hanging out on the field during pre-game warmups, and every kid on my high school's team was in awe of how big he was. Needless to say we lost on a cold rainy night.

Good news is my journalism teacher was also in charge of the cheerleaders. So I got to ride the cheerleader/dance team bus to the game. Met my girlfriend for the next year on that bus, of course she turned out to be a witch, so maybe there really wasn't any good news from that night.

Anyway, sad news to hear he's died. Didn't follow him in college or the pros, but he was on the best high-school players that Arkansas ever produced.