Before one can even begin to talk about the quality of the writing of a newspaper, attention should really be paid to the layout of each. I truly believe that the quality of journalism resides not only in the text itself, but in the placement of text and the layout of pages. I believe the primary concern of the front page of a newspaper should be to alert readers to the most important, breaking news stories of the day. It should not be for large photos and fluffy features stories that belong a few pages into the front section and not dominating the front page of a newspaper.The Chicago Tribune is meant to be a paper that delivers the most important news, while the Wall Street Journal is primarily focused on economics. Nonetheless, it is the WSJ that provides a box entitled "What's News." It gives brief teasers for major stories from around the world, including a group of attacks in Afghanistan that killed 11 people and President Obama's return from his 10-day Asia trip, two news stories that are not even mentioned on the front page of the Trib. In fact, there is no story about Obama's return in the entire front section, and the deadly blasts in Afghanistan are not mentioned until page 12 of the front section.
Furthermore, the Journal just looks like a more legitimate paper in terms of the fonts used, the size of the text, the number of pictures and ads, and the stories included. In 2008, the Chicago Tribune revamped its entire paper in an effort to make it more "reader-friendly." While the layout is certainly pleasing to the eyes, it just seems to have forfeited any attempt to be journalistic. Here's one positive comment on an article about the new design:
This commenter says that readers scan papers, which is true. But if that's the case, shouldn't a paper's goal to be to convey as much important information as possible, in an accessible format on the front page? It's true, newspapers need to make money. But when papers like the Tribune focus so very much on a pleasing layout- including enormous teasers, excessive sports photos and information on the front page, and gratuitous advertisements- the core value of journalism is put on the line. Yes, print journalism may be a sinking ship. But as the WSJ shows, it's possible for a paper to have an approachable, reader-friendly layout while still conveying important news to readers.Newspapers are not all about the editorial. If that were true, then people would pick up bland, text only newspapers and read them.
In fact, readers hardly read the stories at all. They read headlines, photos and captions. Fish around on the web for some newspaper focus groups and you will see that most readers actually think there is more inside of a newspaper that is designed like the new Chicago Tribune than with a New York Times design.
Readers scan, not read. Give them informational headlines, photos and captions and they might just read the story. Don't give them those things and they won't dig into their pockets to purchase the paper.
Newspapers should be for their readers, not for journalists.
I think this design is nice. I think they could have gone a little bolder with it too.
As always, thought that both your post and perspective were interesting and great, Margot! One thing to think about though, is the different audiences of the two papers, and the profits of both papers. If the Chicago tribune is meant for the general population of Chicago, and the Wall Street Journal is meant for more serious business types, can we fault the tribune for adapting to its audience? I agree that it's not hard hitting journalism, but would it be better to have a tribune that no one reads?
ReplyDeleteAh Kyle, always with the hard-hitting posts! ;] Even if the audience of WSJ is more serious, the Tribune has been, for a long time, one of the top newspapers in the country. It serves Chicago just as the New York Times serves New York. But NYT is more along the lines of WSJ-- much more text, many fewer photos and ads. I think the Trib should live up to the same standard as the New York Times. Chicago deserves a paper just as good as New York's! I just think there's some middle ground that needs to be approached-- the Trib should be able to find a way to be visually maintaining the integrity of the news-- instead of including relatively unimportant stories on the side or having an enormous teaser, the Tribune should be able to reserve some space for important headlines. But I agree with you, the audiences are different, and the Tribune needs to maintain its readership. I just think it still has the potential to keep journalistic integrity, while still being pretty.
ReplyDeleteI loved your post, Margot!
ReplyDeleteWhen we design layouts for the pages of Torch,we're supposed to make them as attractive as possible while still drawing attention to the most important story on the page. Your post showed me how readers perceive newspapers and gave me a new perspective on how to design pages. Good job!