TODAY’S FRONT PAGES

The last P-I

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:59:04 -0400

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer goes out in style after 146 years. The newspaper was older than the state of Washington, but not quite as old as the late, great Rocky Mountain News.

Avert your eyes! No, wait: Don’t!

Tue, 3 Mar 2009 19:41:30 -0500

There are a lot of Dow stock charts on the front pages today, which makes me wonder if they’ll make people avert their eyes, the way I have averted my eyes from my 401(k) since October.

I’m betting the answer is no: It’s a classic car wreck. Or train wreck. Or something much, much worse than that.

If you can bear to look, these pages are a great lesson in how charts can be molded to look better or worse depending on their proportions.

This is the one that grabbed me: That precipitous plunge at the end ... that’s a crash if I’ve ever seen one.

This one doesn’t give you quite the same sickening feeling, but still tells the story effectively:

This one doesn’t look half bad, does it? I’m not saying there’s any ethical hanky-panky going on here, but it’s worth thinking about whenever you’re doing a stock chart.

This one ... well, this one is in a class by itself. Sure, the headline says the Dow is half what it used to be, but that’s not what the chart appears to say (at least, not without a closer reading). This is a case where the chart is more illustration than graphic, and I’m not a fan.

In other news ... Utah saw a big increase in jobless claims in January – nearly double the number of people filing a year ago. (The percentage change is big, but the numbers are small — about 11,000 people filing for benefits in January.) But that story had some, um, tough competition: Utah ranks No. 1 for porn website subscriptions. Tough call which of those stories to build around.

While we’re on the subject of the economy, here’s a headline that showed up in a lot of newspapers today, but it looks best here:

It wasn’t that long ago that people were talking about “the R word,” as in recession. How things change.

In Florida, the Sun Sentinel does a nice job with the missing boaters with a great picture.

In California, where one of the missing players is on the Raiders’ roster, the Chronicle does a nice job with the map. (Those teasers at the top of the page? Not at all enticing.)

And finally ... here’s a neat graphic showing a before-and-proposed-after
for downtown Quincy. My quibble: That’s a lot of space to take up for a graphic. But I bet there was nowhere else to put it. And isn’t that sad?

The first Obudget

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:02:16 -0500

My thoughts are with the Rocky Mountain News today, but elsewhere, life goes on.

But first, here’s how the Denver Post handled the Rocky’s demise.

And online, it didn’t take the Post long to claim victory. This pop-up was there within minutes of the announcement that the Rocky would close:

Tacky, tacky.

For the rest of the country, the president’s budget took center stage. Actually, I’m pretty sure it took center stage and did some serious structural damage, given how big that baby is.

The Baltimore Sun does a nice job with a really dull photo. But then, I always love the Sun.

The Salt Lake City Tribune takes another dull photo and tries to gussy it up. I like the breakouts and the concept of using the front page for essentially a giant teaser, but I wish they’d done without the blue books, not least because those are just summaries of the budget, not the whole thing. Now a picture of the whole thing? That might be interesting.

Elsewhere, it was all about graphics. I like how the Times-Dispatch breaks out some of the major features of the plan, skipping the obvious photos.

The Virginian-Pilot focuses on the sheer size of the deficit, but I’m having trouble tearing my eyes away from that fish in the skybar.

And finally ... The Hartford Courant finally makes good use of its flipped flag, with a neat graphic breaking out changes in the various part of the budget. Interesting choice to write a story about how insurers are taking the budget proposal.

So long, Rocky

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:25:03 -0500

I read the Rocky Mountain News as a student at the University of Denver and loved it, especially the tab format, which was obviously so much more convenient than a broadsheet. I really thought it would be the wave of the future, and it is — in the rest of the world. But not here, where newspapers seem so determined not to change. I also have a random memory of towering piles of papers, alongside bags of potatoes and canned food, in the hall closet of the apartment I lived in senior year.

So I’m especially sad today at the demise of this great newspaper.

My heart goes out to the staff. Click on the image below if you want to download a pdf and read the names.

A helping hand, hopefully

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:17:43 -0500

I can’t resist a good economy story — and here’s one that everyone is watching. It’s a great opportunity to be relevant, to answer all the questions readers are bound to have.

A lot of papers built around the foreclosure rescue plan today, but not as many as I would have expected. In Las Vegas — one of the Ground Zeros of the foreclosure crisis — the story barely registered. This, in particular, surprised me.

In all of the illustrations and graphics and photos on today’s pages, the Rocky’s had the most resonance for me. The photo is of a renter evicted after the owner lost the house to foreclosure. I wish the had made some reference to a small provision in the plan that’s mean to help renters like this woman. It would have added another layer of relevance.

Arizona is another one of those Ground Zeroes, and of course that’s why the president chose it for his announcement. (He looks older already, doesn’t he?)

The Sun-Sentinel is becoming one of my favorite newspapers, at least as far as the cosmetics go. (Since I can’t read it, it’s mere infatuation.) They really know how to work with their logo. I also like the foreclosure map, although I’m not wild about that dark gray; I wonder how that printed. Nice use of the strip above the flag, too. My only quibble there is, why wedge that little “the car” box between legs of type like that?

I’m a little disappointed in the Plain Dealer, which is typically another one of my faves. The story reads like every other story on this subject — it doesn’t really even address the headline in the story.

Among the illustrations, I like this one. The best illustrations, to me, are the ones that are integrated into the rest of the page, and this one works in that regard. They could have done a smidge better with that one block of trapped white space, but overall, it works.

Here’s a page that could have benefitted from Coco Chanel’s advice on accessorizing: Before leaving the house, always take one thing off. I used to think about this all the time when designing; the tendency is to overdo it, and most of the times the remedy is simple. Here, they could have done without a couple of elements, chiefly that “foreclosure” sign. It’s cropped so tight, it might as well just be a headline. It doesn’t add any information. I also would have kept the summary within the box, rather than sitting on top of it. I do like the “why the bailout” box, but not the varying widths of the type.

And finally ... Of all the art to choose from, the other Minneapolis paper goes with ... the very same picture, albeit with a different crop. I do like the foreclosures graphic, but I’m a sucker for graphics.

A lackluster day, except ...

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:15:11 -0500

It’s a rare thing anymore when a newspaper has the chance to be the first source of news on a story. So I have to give mad props to the Buffalo News, which jumped all over last night’s plane crash:

The BN told Editor & Publisher they had 75 staffers on the story. My first thought? “They still have 75 staffers?? Wow!”

Here’s the Rocky Mountain News, which had the benefit of a couple of extra hours. I only include the Rocky because I want to say: I love this newspaper. I read this newspaper every day when I was in college. Denver would be a poorer place without it. It breaks my heard to think of it going out of business.

Moving on to the question of the day ...

I’ll be interested to see how that stadium vote turns out. I can’t imagine anyone voting for that in this climate, whether or not it keeps the Marlins from leaving.

The Post-Gazette takes a stab at breaking out what the bill means to people. It’s clunky, but putting this on the front page is a good call.

The Merc takes a stab at the same thing, but it’s still clunky. That’s what you get for laying off designers left and right.

And I have to ask, is “frigga’n” the right spelling? I’ve always thought it was “friggin,” and the Urban Dictionary agrees with me. (Of course, to me, it will always be “fracking,” but now I’m way too far off topic ...)

Random local news: The Times Leader probably looked great on newsstands today, but it’s lackluster below the fold — most especially because they didn’t need another picture of those guys. Mix it up!

And finally ... Here’s the redesigned weekend edition of the Lake Sun (Mo.) Leader, which is heavy on weekend events and entertainment. The paper eliminated its Saturday edition, and since cutbacks are happening everywhere, I thought it might be of interest.

Another morning after

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 09:40:19 -0500

Last night’s game was really the best a casual football fan with no emotional ties to either team could hope for. Two great Super Bowls in a row — who knows, maybe this will start to be must-see TV again. At any rate, this calls for a spin through the front pages, as well as some sports pages.

The Beaver County Times gets the award for Best Crop of Best Photo.

Here’s the same photo, with a less dramatic crop. Big difference. (If the Cards had managed to pull off the win, that secondary photo would have been a real winner.)

One more version of that same play, this one from a slightly different angle. Just a slight difference, and the players are nearly lost in the sea of photographers behind them.

The above is the cover of the Arizona Republic’s Super Bowl special section. Here’s the front page:

My eye went straight from Kurt Warner to the hair loss ad. Heh.

Let’s look at the winners, shall we? I spent six years living not far from Pittsburgh, and I know how western Pennsylvanians love their Steelers. I don’t think they could have done too much with this game.

I’m surprised the Post-Gazette didn’t go with a poster page. This is a nice picture, and a good headline, but it’s just okay. It’s fine.

They saved their poster page for the Super Bowl Extra cover, which is lovely.

And here’s what they did on the day of the game. This is sweet.

(I can’t help it. I’m a little jealous. When we had the Giants in the Super Bowl last year ... that was awesome. Sigh ...)

Another great game day special section came from Buffalo, which always does great work with sports. I have to wonder, though, how much interest there was in the game there, and whether it warranted a special section. Times being what they are, and all.

I’ve got one more from Pennsylvania before I move on to the Florida papers. I’m surprised I didn’t see this headline in more places today.

The St. Pete Times front page is functional. I appreciate the nod to Tampa in the headline.

And here’s their special section — again, this is where the poster page showed up. (I saw this headline in one other place today: My old stomping grounds, the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, Pa.)

And finally ... The Tampa Tribune was a no-show on the Newseum website this morning, and I couldn’t find its front page on its website. But here’s its special section. It’s funny, I love poster pages in some circumstances (certainly if you’re anywhere west of Harrisburg, Pa.), but this one strikes me as loud. Maybe it’s the illustration at the top that irritates me. Plus, I can’t see people in Tampa collecting this. In some ways, they had a victory last night, sure, but it wasn’t on the field.

The morning after

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:23:08 -0500

I’m a sucker for an inauguration — the monumental moment when this country, one of the richest and most powerful in the world, peacefully transfers power to a new administration. It’s a wonder, really, a minor miracle in a world where the bullet is more common than the ballot.

So whether you’re an Obama supporter or not, yesterday was a great day. And it led to some great work in our newspapers. But really, how could they go wrong?

One of my favorite things about yesterday was watching the Obamas together. They have such obvious affection for each other, and it showed in this picture:

Another, better crop:

Another version with the same photo, but the crop is wonky — if you’re going to cut off his hand, which is fine, you might as well go further so you can get more of Michelle in. By the way, I really like how these papers have subjugated their flags for the occasion.

I also quite like the Virginian-Pilot today, which used a similar photo. I like the pages that are really simple, where the design gets out of the way of the event.

This must be the moment when they’re trying not to laugh at Roberts flubbing the oath. I’m all for minimalist design, but — nothing? Not even a page number?

One last version of daytime Barack and Michelle ... this one a doubletruck front-and-back page from the Patriot News. I want to like it, but then I think, that’s basically a full-page picture of Michelle Obama, and I wonder, why?

Last one of the first couple, and one I really like, from the Salt Lake Tribune (which also downplayed its nameplate).

On to the “just Barack” pages ... I really like the Sun-Sentinel’s cover. I just wish they had extended the 3D effect to include the photo. It would have been easy — just a shadow effect on the edges of the photo would have done it. Darn it.

Another entry, from the president’s hometown paper, was the first one to make me think, wow, John Roberts must hate these pictures.

I like the headline here, although it doesn’t quite fit right.

I really want to like this one. The picture is different — it’s not one we’ve seen a dozen times today — but at the same time, it could have been taken at any campaign event. And while I love the quote, the type treatment is clunky. I do like the small, inset photos.

This one — with another quote I like — captures the time and the place nicely.

I could keep going on and on, but I’m going to wrap up. I include this one for a couple of reasons. First off, this quote showed up in a lot of headlines, and I’ve got to say — I don’t like it. It was in the press a day ahead of the speech, for one thing, and for another, it’s just not stirring. The other thing is, I was really moved by that massive crowd on the mall. I’ve been there in what I thought were massive crowds, but they were nothing compared to this. But none of the pages I saw that used these pictures had the same oomph for me. Maybe it’s the stillness; it doesn’t seem so much like a throbbing crowd in a still image.

Inauguration Day

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:41:49 -0500

I have a tall stack of front pages from around the country and even around the world to share today. I’m going to put them out there without comment, because I’m going to have a houseful of people coming over in a little while to watch the festivities. Party prep calls.

First, the U.S. newspapers, then a handful of papers from around the world. Can’t wait to see what everybody does tomorrow.

The miracle on the Hudson

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:30:25 -0500

Just a quick roundup of front pages that focus on yesterday US Airways crash in the Hudson and the miraculous survival of all on board.