NYT Hall of Fame sports front

Was there any explanation inside about the blank front and its significance? I thought it looked fine, but as others mentioned that was a big space to leave blank. Would plans have changed if a big sports story came up late in the night? Leaving such a big space blank indicates no noteworthy sports news happened yesterday.

 

that would be very cool ... if it was your college newspaper.

 

Yep. Agreed, Mr. Petty. And speaking of college newspapers....

The best I've ever seen this done was a few years ago at LaSalle University (in Philly). This wasn't a totally blank front page, and I thought it was pretty cool, given the circumstances. Basically, there was an embarassing story about a professor (and exoctic dancers!), and the Administration - who funds the student newspaper - first told them they couldn't run the story, then told them they could run it but it had to be below the fold. Pretty cool response.

http://apple.copydesk.org/2011/04/15/college-weekly-finds-a-clever-and-powerful-way-around-the-rules/

A-10, Represent!

 

But think of how much money they saved on ink . . .

At first blow I thought it was cool, got a chuckle out of it -- hadn't seen it done elsewhere before -- but there are much better ways to comment on the story and make it relivant a day after the fact. This was a wasted opportunity and very gimmicky.

I do like what the LaSalle paper did, though.

 

How often does a print design generate this much talk without a glaring mistake or over-the-top headline?

 

Agreed with Mr. Petty. If it's a college paper, yes. But it's The New York Times ... and its grandstanding IMHO.

 

how many pages did the death of this guy get on this site? i think you made a horrifically poor point:

 

I wonder how many calls they got from readers saying, "You forgot to put stuff on the front page!" or people who thought there was a printing error.

Also reminds me of a couple of paid ads the Times ran when Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson died. Both were full page, but only had their names and birth/death dates on them. Henson's had a small cartoon Mickey Mouse looking up at Henson's name with a tear in his eye, but I can't recall what Davis' page had.

 

Page wasn't 'blank.'

www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/visual-voice/200172/new-york-times-seinfeld-esque-sports-page-shows-the-power-of-nothing/

 

Not just on this site. This page is everywhere.

 

But as has been pointed out multiple times on this thread, it wasn't different. We're talking about it because it's The New York Times, not because it's innovative, creative or good.

 

What's next, a headline with "fuck" in it?