My newspaper column
Related blog post.
How easy is it to select stories that people want to read for the front page of the newspaper?
Pretty simple, right? Not so fast.
On the front page two Sundays ago, we published the story of Stephen Ludwig, a sixth-grader at Mendenhall Middle School who is living a full life despite a rare bone disease. In that same paper, we devoted most of Page 2 to a report out of Washington on the protest by tens of thousands of people protesting big government.
I was curious what people thought about the positioning of the two stories. They were so different: One was local, the other national. One was a feature, the other hard news. One was new to our readers, the other had been on all the television stations the day before.
I asked members of our readership advisory group if they thought the protest story should have been on the front page in place of the story about the boy known as Stevo.
The results might surprise you. But first, read some of the responses that capture the sentiments of those who thought the protest story should have been on the front page:
* “The protest in Washington was extremely important. The majority of citizens wants a democracy and wants to take back their country. For the past nine months, our rights are being jeopardized, and unless something is done we’ll lose them.”
* “I’d rather see news than features on the front page. The old tugging-at-the-heartstrings story doesn’t appeal to me very much.”
* “Of course it needed to be on the front page. Your liberal bias is showing.”
Those who thought the Ludwig story was in the right place wrote:
* “The government-in-D.C. article was where it should have been. The article about the little boy transcends government/class/politics and speaks to the human spirit.”
* “Getting more local news stories is more important to me. Yes, national and international news is still important, but I am worn out about hearing about health care reform.”
* “No. (The protest) is getting enough coverage on Fox.”
The final tally? Essentially, it was a tie. Of the 204 people who responded, 88 said the Ludwig story was properly placed on the front page; 85 said the protest should have been there. The rest said they didn’t know or didn’t care, or they offered comments about other things. Do you need further evidence that people are different?
Our newsroom has similar discussions every day as we consider what is important, what’s interesting, what people want and how best we can serve the community. Most days, at least half a dozen stories are worthy.
I know the survey itself wasn’t a scientific representation of our readership. What it told me, though, is that even with the limited amount of space on the front page, many of you wanted us to find room for both stories.
To our readers, the front page is our face. Every day it should have elements that surprise, inform, delight and provoke. One of the advantages of this business is that we get a new opportunity every day to get it right.
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