The front page of the Tribune Review doesn't seem to follow the format I traditionally think of in the stereotypical newspaper: the very first headline is not the one that automatically catches my eye. "CIA target of torture probe" seems to me to be the really big headline, because of the larger, bolder typeface and words that pop out like "CIA" and "torture." The CIA story also seems to be the more interesting than the "Planes, trains, etc." article in terms of the actual content of the story as well. It actually takes up more space than the headline at the top of the page. I wonder why they chose to do this. Has there been some kind of study to show that people's eyes generally gravitate to the middle of a front page of a newspaper before they look at the very top? That doesn't to make much sense to me. Especially since newspapers are folded in such a way that directs your attention to the top half anyway.
Another thing that interests me is the comparative insignificance of the picture labeled "A real treat" next to all of the other pictures and stories. I suppose this is an attempt to make the front page not as heavy-handed, but it does seem a bit out of place because it's such a departure from everything else on the page. Not to sound too harsh, but are there really that many people that actually care some little girl got candy at a parade for a little league softball team? It would be different if the parade were tied to something seemingly more significant, say a parade in honor of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, like the bigger picture of the memorial. But given the circumstances of the picture, it seems like the only reason you'd care about this is if you knew the little girl or her family. Compared to the online version of the paper, this handheld version is a bit clunky, giving you information and pictures you have to sift through to get to what interests you, while the website is much faster in that it just has the headline that you can immediately click to read the whole story without shuffling through big pages to get to the part of the story that's continued inside the paper.
Comments (2)
I also don't understand why they put the "Planes, trains,..." story on the front page. It lacked any kind of interesting or relevant information. And the little girl at the parade was very out of place, especially since it's right under the torture probe article and the article about business profit loss.
Posted by Kaitlin Monier | August 25, 2009 11:51 PM
Posted on August 25, 2009 23:51
Maybe that was the best place for it in the layout, but notice how the other headlines are bigger and more bold than "planes, trains".
Posted by Aja Hannah | August 26, 2009 7:55 PM
Posted on August 26, 2009 19:55