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Flash: Front Page of Washington Newspaper Contains No News
By
Harry Jaffe
Published Friday, March 06, 2009
NOTE: See a response from Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli below. --- Today’s news is there is no news on the front page of today’s Washington Post. Not one of the six articles on page A1 begins with a hard news lead that imparts real news to readers.
Welcome to the new age of daily newspapering, where the actual news of the day has migrated to the Internet or TV or radio or the inside pages of the paper. Bye-bye to the old “who-what-when-where-why.”
In its Friday, March 6, edition, the Post published a pair of lead articles about the travails of US corporations and plummeting stocks; no real news there. Above the fold, readers could find a soft news piece on the Obama White House feuding with Rush Limbaugh or a story about an initiative whereby the government would ask investors to help bail out failing banks.
Below the fold the paper offered a feature about a clean coal project revived by President Obama’s new stimulus bill. The one foreign piece covers the hunger crisis in North Korea. That’s a very old story.
Not one article concerning news or events in the Washington region.
The newsless Washington Post front page has the stamp of Marcus Brauchli. The new executive editor does not edit the daily paper, but he has the last word on what goes on the front page.
According to editors who actually put out the paper every day, Brauchli prefers fewer articles on the front page. He likes bigger photos. Rather than breaking news, the Post’s front page should cast a story into the future.
Editors say Brauchli wants the Post to publish “predictive analysis.”
Giving readers a different mix of articles on the front page is one way to experiment with the newspaper at a time of declining revenues and readership. The New York Times on March 6 also published a few soft news stories on its front page, but it did include one that would qualify as real news:
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a $410 billion omnibus spending measure on Thursday night, forcing Congressional Democrats to prepare a stopgap budget resolution to keep the federal government from shutting down.
That once was news.
--- UPDATE: Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor of the Washington Post, responds to this Harry Jaffe column:
It's not news when auditors for the company that once was America's industrial giant express concern about whether it can survive? Or when the likelihood rises that the government might have to acquire what once was the country's largest bank? Or that the world's monetary authorities are scrambling to revive the global economy?The front page was thick with news. News isn't defined by a subject-verb-object lead sentence. We tell our readers what's happening, why it's happening, how it might affect them and what's likely to happen next. Kimberly Kindy, David Cho and Blaine Harden did something much more difficult than simply reporting what other said or did. Their enterprise work told you what you won't learn from other sources, but what really matters. Your definition of news would favor news conferences and press releases.
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idiot, save a jpeg, not the link, otherwise this is useless after march 6
Posted by: yo, Aug 04, 2009 01:10:57 PM
The Newseum displays these daily newspaper front pages in their original,The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington
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Posted by: lovingseem, Jun 01, 2009 08:13:40 PM
So when I want to read the real news I’ll turn to the Washingtonian, whatever that is. Meantime, and use your listening ears, Marcus rocks.
Posted by: superf8, Mar 17, 2009 03:49:07 AM
The WaPo is on a downward spiral. We still take it for home delivery just because one needs a local paper (OK, that dates me) as well as the NYT Weekender. But I frankly don’t see much difference between the Post and the Moonie paper. Since Fred Hiatt became the editorial page editor it has become mainly a mirror for hard right-wing and neocon cant that reflects little in today’s Washington or today’s reality. Except for Eugene and EJ there really isn’t a worthy columnist in the bunch. And why, why, why hasn’t someone persuaded Broder and Cohen to take a buyout and put them out of their misery. I feel so bad for them, if I read their columns; can’t they realize how far the world has moved ahead of them (not that Broder ever really was all that aware).
Posted by: Toutatis, Mar 07, 2009 11:31:47 AM
Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck....free traders, warmongers, Israel-firsters, stood by Bush
War-riors.. Not what the GOP needs either.
Maybe a combo of Buchanan and Paul. Of course
suppression thereof means the nation badly needs
a third,even fourth party.
Posted by: Ken , Mar 07, 2009 10:21:19 AM
Newspapers are struggling. Human interest and editorials long ago replaced breaking news on the front pages.
Posted by: Jay, Mar 07, 2009 09:58:18 AM
We don’t need a black man to lead us. The blacks already have a party they can go to. The Republicans are a party for the working white man.
Posted by: Jims, Mar 07, 2009 03:43:16 AM
if you thought the A section was bad, take a look at style.
there was not ONE thing worth reading on the page. who gives a crap about cleveland for god’s sake!!!
the paper is awful, awful, awful. except marc fisher.
Posted by: rom7, Mar 06, 2009 05:37:40 PM
I’m no Post apologist, but it’s pretty clear on this one that the Washington Post is the one that gets that it’s the year 2009; Harry seems to think it’s 1959 or something. People are killing the print product by hanging on to these outmoded, lede-nut-yawn definitions of what’s news and what should be on A1 of a paper.
(A separate point: You appear to lack the critical reading skills to recognize the news in some of these stories.)
This is in fact a much more relevant, insightful and newsy page than we used to get from newspapers. Bravo to the Post!
Posted by: Jay, Mar 06, 2009 01:57:23 PM
It’s funny: The comments below illustrate that the Post’s biggest defenders are actually NOT following the news!
The first comment -- at the bottom -- refers to RNC Chair Steele with a "hip hop" reference.
The commenters that followed decried this as a "code word" and asked, "is that because [Obama and Steele] are black?"
LOL. If these individuals had been reading internet blogs, they’d recall that Steele was the one saying the GOP needs a "hip hop" makeover. Heck, even the Post mentioned this briefly.
Posted by: J.D., Mar 06, 2009 01:41:21 PM
There’s a reason why Harry Jaffe scribbles away on a blog instead of holding an actual position of responsibility at a publication. This column is that reason. Nice Wordpress template though, if that means anything.
And it doesn’t.
Posted by: Fred, Mar 06, 2009 01:13:25 PM
This one goes to Marcus. Harry’s definition of news seems pretty thoroughly stuck in the print past.
Posted by: Jason, Mar 06, 2009 01:03:04 PM
Something doesn’t have to happen "today" or "yesterday" to be news. Often times, it’s the accumulation of what happened yesterday, and last week, and last month, when taken together in the proper context, is the real "news."
I think it was Gene Roberts, the former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer who said the big stories don’t break, they ooze.
Posted by: KenZ, Mar 06, 2009 12:41:19 PM
Hey, Jims: Rush Limbaugh is your leader? No wonder conservatives are in such a freefall. Seems that Bush-era notion of supporting your president in a time of war went out the window with Lil’ Boy Bush. Maybe now you’ll begin to understand the absolute need for people who challenge elected officials.
Or you’ll keep barking like your talking heads on television and radio.
One other thing: Your mention of Steele and Obama as somehow similar reeks of ignorance and bigotry. How the hell are they "hip hop"? Because they’re black?
Wow. I mean, wow. Get a clue, kid.
Posted by: Yaz, Mar 06, 2009 12:37:57 PM
It sounds as if, by your definition, the Post front page should be like local news: crime, house fires, weather, celebrity news, etc. Sorry, but there’s plenty of that on the tube, if that’s what I want -- and much sooner.
Every story you mentioned had important implications, news I’m not going to see anywhere else. It’s what newspapers should be doing, rather than trying to play catchup on crime stories that were on TV last night.
Sorry, but you’re way off base on this one.
Posted by: BobH, Mar 06, 2009 12:30:00 PM
booooooyyyyaaaaaaaa. go harry!
Posted by: booya, Mar 06, 2009 11:13:58 AM
I totally agree with Marcus Brauchli. The only way print can compete with the new age of media is to provide other news stories that the new media is not talking about 24 / 7. Mr. Jaffe is wrong to say breaking news can be done with print. By the time breaking news hits print there is nothing breaking about it. Its old and not updated. There are so many other stories out there that are not covered that the print media should go after. But then that would require journalists to leave their laptops and work.
Posted by: Alicia, Mar 06, 2009 11:11:09 AM
Hip hop? Is that a code word?
Posted by: Rocky Ridge, Mar 06, 2009 10:24:33 AM
I don’t know, a story about the U.S. government doing business with hedge funds in an effort to right the economy struck me as news.
Posted by: Junior3, Mar 06, 2009 09:04:47 AM
Rush Limbaugh is MY leader. Steele is an embarrassment. We need to recapture Reagan, not get “hip hop” like Steele and Obama.
Posted by: Jims, Mar 06, 2009 08:55:03 AM
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