2009.08.27
Page 1 coverage of Sen. Kennedy's death
We had a lively discussion at our afternoon news meeting Wednesday about how we should display the news of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death on today's front page. Kennedy's death was announced by his family around 1:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, after our final deadline for Wednesday's paper had passed.
So, the news had been all over television and the Internet for more than 24 hours by the time our paper hit doorsteps this morning. A handful of editors in the room argued that his death was a huge national story and deserved traditional centerpiece display -- four columns wide with a large headline, photo, story, timeline -- on the front page.
Others argued that the timing of his death -- coupled with the fact that he had few local connections -- was good reason to play the story inside the paper.
As you can see here, we decided on somewhat of a middle ground: A large banner over the paper's flag announcing his death and directing readers to more coverage on pages three, four and five.
That alerted readers buying the paper in racks or stores to the coverage but also allowed us to give a nice display to local columnist Dan Casey's feature on Dave Asbury.
What do you think about how we played the story?
Treat Kennedy like enemy of freedom that he was. Kennedy had spent many years undermining the constitution for his personal gain. For me the sky is bluer, the sun is brighter with Kennedy gone. Good Riddance!
Comment by David — August 28, 2009 @ 11:04 am
As I walked down to the paper box I thought, I'll bet that the Roanoke Times runs local news on the front page. But tomatoes??? I mean, really. Tomatoes??? I appreciate the four-inch banner headline, but a man with that legacy should have been front page news - not page three. Especially not in favor of tomatoes!
Comment by Linda Nisbet — August 29, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
One would think the death of Senator Kennedy to be slightly more important than a sack of tomatoes. Also, several of the reader comments allowed by the RT crossed the line. Even Fox News had the decency to disable them in many of their stories. Thanks for listening.
Comment by Art Hill — August 29, 2009 @ 11:33 pm