AP story on Domino's earnings lacking meat

by · April 30, 2008

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs writes Wednesday that an Associated Press story on Domino’s first-quarter earnings missed the bigger story at the pizza chain.

Fuchs writes, “Look at this headline, which ran Tuesday night: ‘Domino’s Pizza shares up after company reports 1Q profit.’ The AP began its lead with the same claim before launching into a second clause that rendered news of that big rise as meaningless as gills on a bird:

‘Shares of pizza delivery chain Domino’s Pizza Inc. rose Tuesday after the company reported a big rise in first-quarter profit, helped by expenses that weighed down the year-ago results.’

“After a breathless headline and first clause of the lead momentarily tricked The Business Press Maven into thinking that Domino’s has fixed its problems, which are crust-deep everywhere but overseas, we get this:

‘Before the market opened Tuesday, Domino’s said a recapitalization in 2007 led to far lower results in the year ago quarter. Excluding those expenses, the company’s profit would have fallen in the 2008 first quarter.'”