I see by the snailpapers that John Robinson has a very good blog post today about front pages of snailpapers.....
"What makes the front page?" John Robinson asks his readers in North Carolina and around the world -- me, for example, in my cave in Taiwan.
He then notes: "I had the pleasure of talking to Andy Bechtel’s Advanced Editing class at UNC yesterday. The topic: what makes a front page story?"
Robinson adds: It is an art not a science. That’s why I came up with 11 characteristics that may qualify a story as worthy of the front page. Andy didn’t make me rank them in order of importance so lazy person that I am, I didn’t.
ROBINSON'S LIST
• It’s local.
• It’s news, with the emphasis on the word new. (If it’s on the noon news, do I really want it on the front page 18 hours later?)
• It’s important for participation in a democracy. (Stories about candidates for local office don’t sell papers, but if we don’t do it, who will?)
• It’s a catastrophe. (Sorry to say it, but TV is right: death and destruction sells.)
• If people will talk about it. (It’s not an important event, but it is just plain interesting.)
• If it sells papers. (Those promos on the front page telling you how many coupons inside?)
• If it has strong art. (We’re not the Wall Street Journal.)
• If it improves the mix of stories. (We want some serious, some light, some topic-oriented, some people-oriented.)
• If it is part of an historic event. (Think UNC wins the NCAA. Obama wins the election. The 50th anniversary of the sit-ins.)
• It deserves to be on the front page. **
• It’s a slow news day. (Absolutely nothing is going on, but we ain’t producing a paper with acres of white space on the front page. Hence, wire copy.)
** [This is a new one to me and is dedicated to those people who think Sen. Kennedy’s passing, Sonja Sotomayor confirmation to the Supreme Court or Brown’s election deserved Page 1 treatment, even though they didn’t really qualify with any of the other characteristics.]
Full disclosure: I allow myself to ignore these whenever it is necessary.
He then notes: "I had the pleasure of talking to Andy Bechtel’s Advanced Editing class at UNC yesterday. The topic: what makes a front page story?"
Robinson adds: It is an art not a science. That’s why I came up with 11 characteristics that may qualify a story as worthy of the front page. Andy didn’t make me rank them in order of importance so lazy person that I am, I didn’t.
ROBINSON'S LIST
• It’s local.
• It’s news, with the emphasis on the word new. (If it’s on the noon news, do I really want it on the front page 18 hours later?)
• It’s important for participation in a democracy. (Stories about candidates for local office don’t sell papers, but if we don’t do it, who will?)
• It’s a catastrophe. (Sorry to say it, but TV is right: death and destruction sells.)
• If people will talk about it. (It’s not an important event, but it is just plain interesting.)
• If it sells papers. (Those promos on the front page telling you how many coupons inside?)
• If it has strong art. (We’re not the Wall Street Journal.)
• If it improves the mix of stories. (We want some serious, some light, some topic-oriented, some people-oriented.)
• If it is part of an historic event. (Think UNC wins the NCAA. Obama wins the election. The 50th anniversary of the sit-ins.)
• It deserves to be on the front page. **
• It’s a slow news day. (Absolutely nothing is going on, but we ain’t producing a paper with acres of white space on the front page. Hence, wire copy.)
** [This is a new one to me and is dedicated to those people who think Sen. Kennedy’s passing, Sonja Sotomayor confirmation to the Supreme Court or Brown’s election deserved Page 1 treatment, even though they didn’t really qualify with any of the other characteristics.]
Full disclosure: I allow myself to ignore these whenever it is necessary.
posted by dan at 9:33 PM
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