Journalism at UMD

What an honor to get to be the Public Editor for the paper on November 5th. It’s fantastic to get to absorb it and comment on such a weighty news day. It was obviously a tough paper to assemble, given the timing of the returns, printing restrictions, etc. I commend the staff for putting together a nice product. If you continue reading my comments, keep something in mind. I’m not a journalism professor. Some of my comments may be naïve or jargoned badly or both. Let me apologize for them in advance.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

A fuller paper is so nice. Here’s an anecdote on that. I had it at home on my dining room table. A couple of thirty-something neighbors came over and we were chatting. I referenced the paper in conversation, showed it to them, and they both said, “Wow, this looks good. I didn’t know their paper was this good.� I don’t know if advertising primarily determines the number of pages, but certainly consistently fuller papers will draw more readers over time. I think it was mainly the size that impressed them.

PAGE ONE

I was very unimpressed by the front page. Visually, it’s a mess. The banner competes too much with the primary headline in size and typeface similarity. I’ll second Professor Hatcher’s earlier angst about all-caps. The story deserves it, arguably, but in execution the banner and the lead headline are visually confounded.

As a whole, the front page is not clean and it has no flow. Pick any 2 or three major newspapers and set them down on a table to compare. I did the NY Times, USA Today, and the Star Tribune. I just used the top half. But I also compared the bottom halves as well. If your staff doesn’t do that regularly, perhaps you should.

To the side, the top of Hillary’s head is strangely cut off despite having plenty of column space.

Obama headline

Perhaps worst of all, given the gravity of the moment, your headline for the story about the Presidential election is, “America has answered.�

Really? It makes me feel like writing an SNL “Really� skit about it. Really? The first black president is elected in what everyone refers to as an “historic� election and that’s your headline? What else were we going to do? It was an election. Were we all waiting to see if someone hijacked the election? Surely you can do better than that. Could it be the most significant headline in the Statesman’s history?

Drawing readers inside

There are 3 headlines on the front page, not counting the teaser in the banner. Two have a lead with them. It would be hard to put less news on the front page. The column-inches dedicated to the result of the Presidential election is egregious. It wasn’t a tough sell. People are sure to be interested in the news. What you want them to do is READ the paper. It would be difficult for you to give me less reason to want to open it up and read it, given the content on the front page.

The only question raised and not answered (or teased for me) is how to make a calzone by myself. This the day after the general election? Strange. By comparison, on page 1 of November 4th’s NY Times, the top half had 3 stories (about 5 column-inches a piece) and 6 photos. On the bottom half, three more, and a split section of teaser stories. Depending on how one defines them, there are 11 teaser stories on the front page of the Times. They do a great job of throwing lots of darts at me to get me to open it up.

By contrast, the Statesman’s front-page makes me 1) compelled to pick it up because of the photo size 2) I get a little lost with my eyeballs, so I 3) focus, 4) I see that Barack has probably won, and then 5) I feel like putting it down.

There is little effort to get me to entertain the idea of opening it up. If I do, it’s because I’ve already learned to like the paper or because I’m seriously bored. It’s definitely not because the front-page persuaded me to.

INSIDE

Of course, I did open it up. And there are some very good things about it. And some odd things.

Missing students

On the odd side, I am flummoxed by the fact that there is not one story about student involvement in the election – either for the Presidential or state or local campaigns or just about voting. There are no pictures of students voting. You have shoved the most general, albeit relevant, voting results pertaining to UMD students into about 3 column-inches on page 3. That’s basically it.

I find this editorial accident or decision to be quite surprising. Students are continually being raked over the coals about not voting or being politically apathetic. Perhaps this paper contributes to apathy by simply not showing or talking about political participation of any kind. That’s disappointing to me.

Winterize the house

On the good side, I found the story about window insulation useful and timely. I had just spent $60 on packs of window insulation plastic, even though I’m not a student. Unfortunately, there was little effort by the reporter to empathize much with students. How many live in old houses? How many live in apartments? If I live in an apartment do I need to insulate my windows? If I live in an 80 year-old house in Duluth, is the Department of Energy’s estimate even relevant to me? You reported an average ($1,900 annually) that may have little meaning in Duluth. And it may have less meaning if you live in a really old home with old windows (which, by the way, I do). Still, the article was clear and compelling and I enjoyed it.

Cropping

Someone at the paper clearly doesn’t like the top of people’s heads. Mr. Jackson Hart lost his as well, on page 2. Can’t figure this out.

Sports

I love the sports coverage. Generally the articles are well-written and I like being able to flip to the back to get some results. The sports reporting is sadly reactive, however. The UMD football team is playing this Saturday to go 11-0. That fact is shoved into the bottom graph of a small story on page 26. If I were a football player, I’d be insulted. What more do they have to do to earn coverage? Isn’t a story about the upcoming game appropriate? They basically field the same players as last year, I think, but are somehow undefeated? There is much to write about, either in review of the season or in anticipation of Winona State or the playoffs.

THIS WEEK'S FAVORITES

Favorite line – David Cowardin

An hour passed and Burmis had yet to feel a reply to his careful jigging.

Favorite headline – Meghan Buttler

A concert worth coming out for

Favorite story – Cory Claeson

Student Executive Board is now a reality at KUMD

Favorite lead – David Buckner

“By the time doors to the Romano Gym opened a few minutes after 4 p.m. on Monday, a line of over 3 thousand people had formed from the gym doors through the Weber Music Hall.�

Favorite photo – David Cowardin

The Walleye

SUGGESTIONS

1) Registration issues – I am constantly annoyed with the print quality of the paper. It’s 2008, and the color registration and bleeding problems that routinely plague the paper make me feel like I’m holding something cheap from 1963. This may be an expensive problem to fix, but I have to say it. I’m sure it has a measurably negative effect on impressions of the paper.

2) Kill the Top 10 List - Seriously, is anything more hackneyed than a top 10 list? Maybe the reason I seldom read this or find it funny when I do is because the “medium� is stale. I strongly suggest promoting its burial, celebrating its last appearance, and then burying it deep in the waste-bin
of humorous ideas. Certainly there is another way to be funny that will appeal more to your readers. Maybe it's just me. I started to write a top 10 list of the reasons why to kill it, but it wasn’t worth reading.

3) Tease me – Fill page 1 with news, not with size, and give me a dozen reasons to open it up.

4) Fewer words, more data – When reporting use more data and use it more adroitly. But when you choose to, be empathetic with student audiences. The window insulation story I mentioned already exemplifies this point. But so does the “stress� story on page 6. Why not report on how many students seek treatment for depression or stress at UMD? I think Northerners suffer more from this problem in October and in winter because of daylight issues. So why use an (unattributed) “article� on college depression as evidence?

5) Proactive sports reporting – No question I can use the Statesman to stay informed about scores and upcoming games. But I cannot use it well to give me a reason to attend activities. It’s more reactive than proactive. Nothing makes this clearer than the point I raised earlier about the upcoming football game.

6) UMD student life - More “human interest� beats about what it’s like to be a student at UMD, both intellectually and recreationally. At the risk of ranting about it, I am deeply troubled that no journalist or editor thought it was important enough to cover student political action for this paper. That’s not just bad, it’s arguably antithetical to the purpose of having a newspaper in the first place.

-Aaron R. Boyson