Chicago Tribune eliminates Bears game stories

;D

 

Yes. Yes. Yes.

We're what would have happened if Villanova had tried to run with Georgetown in 1985. If we try to run with television, we'll get beat by 20. Every time. We can't out-TV TV.

 

It's not really a question of out-TVing TV. Little of what we do is based on TV. The industry needs to take a collective breath and realize that it's OK that fewer people read us in the print version. Fewer people watch the three network newscasts than a generation ago, but does that mean the lights have been turned off at 30 Rock? It's a wider playing field, and there's room for YouTube goofiness along with (a diminished share for) newspapers in whatever form.

 

And that's the point I keep making again and again. A lot of these places simply do not have the staff to play the games they attempt to play. Even if they did, the people do not have the ability to design, paginate, edit and write headlines and do all of these tasks well.

The result is a poorer edition day after day, filled with obvious errors and package angles that never should have seen the light of day.

 

So, again, if that's the case, what IS your answer? Throw the stories at the page and let them land where they will? Or ... hey, I've got it ... bring back the hot-type composing room and let them decide where things go!

 

Formatted pages that take the designer out of the equation.

Refocusing on the basics. Cutouts only when absolutely necessary.

The firing of all MEs of presentation. If you can't write a headline or fix a story to save your life, you shouldn't be in a newsroom. All kinds of corporations have jobs for morons who can only create visuals; apply there.

Immediate written reprimands for anyone who uses an unedited AP cutline more than 15 minutes before deadline.

A spelled-out policy that states discussion/comparison of SND entries, etc., on work time is prohibited. Either after deadline or not at all.

Shall I continue?

 

No. I ate not too long ago.

 

Oh, how I love that DyePack's proposal would put me out of a job.

 

Formatted pages are part of the problem . . . and certainly not the solution.

It's formatted pages that force copy to fit a preconceived hole, that limit the size or dimensions you can present a photo (no matter how spectacular it may be), that limit the adjustments you can make if something breaks and that tend to make big news days and big news stories appear no more important than slow news days.

 

Yup.

 

You have to know when to alter the format. That doesn't mean doing stupid shit like fucking with the flag, as I've seen many newspapers do.

It's simply establishing a guideline to take some of the free-lancing out of the equation.

I'd be willing to bet for every formatted page, there's a scenario where a designer is given an entire night to play (piss) around with different tricks that are simply a waste of time. It's wrong and it should stop.

Thus, formatting. An extreme solution for an extreme problem. Eliminate the time-wasters; eliminate the bullshit.

 

So, did you really think you'd presented any of this before, or were you being (gasp) contrarian?

You've detailed more in the last page than in the past six months. Not that I agree with it all, but at least I can see some of the ideas.