Charles Apple

I’m on the road this weekend — In D.C., actually, teaching a session Sunday morning on newsletter design for a group of postmasters. So please excuse my lateness in posting.

If you saw my piece yesterday, then you’ll remember the deal. I’m looking at the NCAA tournament brackets and pulling the front page — from the Newseum – of each school’s hometown paper.

Let’s see if the presentation of the previous day’s game is on par with their school’s performance on the court…

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MIDWEST REGIONAL

No. 5 Michigan State 70
No. 12 New Mexico State 67

Michigan State gets a nice skyline across the top of the Detroit News (and the Free Press as well; more about that later). But I couldn’t find squat for New Mexico State. The Albuquerque paper ran nothing at all for New Mexico State, as far as I could find.

Left: Detroit News, circulation 167,849.

Right: Albuquerque Journal, circulation 94,066.

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No. 4 Maryland 89
No. 13 Houston 77

Is there a mention of the Houston game anywhere on the front page of Houston today? If so, I can’t find it. The above-the-nameplate promo deals with Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Baylor.

Meanwhile, Baltimore provided pretty good coverage — with a great photo — of the Maryland game.

A great job by Baltimore. But still, a win by default.

Left: The Sun of Baltimore, circulation 186, 639. Lead art by Gene Sweeney, staff

Right: Houston Chronicle, circulation 384,419.

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No. 10 Georgia Tech 64
No. 7 Oklahoma State 59

Atlanta did cover the Georgia Tech win on A1 today, but only in a very small item at the bottom left of the page. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City blew out their team’s loss with a nice four-column post-game A1 shot.

Set, match, point, Oklahoma State.

Left: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, circulation 211,420. Georgia Tech photo by Morry Gash of the Associated Press.

Right: The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City, circulation 147,212. Lead art by Bran Terry, staff.

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No. 2 Ohio State 68
No. 15 Cal-Santa Barbara 51

I can’t find any paper at all that mentioned UCSB on page one today. I cited the daily in Santa Barbara as a default — perhaps their deadline wasn’t compatible with with the final score or something.

Meanwhile, Columbus played a nice over-the-nameplate promo. Win, Ohio Sate.

Left: The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, circulation 183, 742.

Right: The Daily Sound of Santa Barbara, Calif., circulation 10,000.

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WEST REGIONAL

No. 1 Syracuse 79
No. 16 Vermont 56

That’s a wonderful package on the front of the Syracuse paper. And it’s awfully nice of the paper to split up their space to give equal time to the folks down the road in Cornell.

However, Burlington devoted two-thirds of its page to Vermont’s losing effort, including a wonderful lead photo. Advantage, Vermont.

Left: Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y., circulation 93,176. Syracuse art by staffer Gloria Wright.

Right: Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, circulation 41,901. Lead art by Emily McManamy, staff.

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No. 8 Gonzaga 67
No. 9 Florida State 60

This one puzzled me quite a bit. Gonzaga played Friday — and the game was over early enough — for it to easily make A1 in Spokane. Indeed, it’s there — buried way down in that little tint box. The huge centerpiece focuses mainly on folks from other schools — the five-column photos is of Purdue fans, for Chrissakes.

Tallahassee wins for that embarrassingly small promo at the top right.

Left: Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., circulation 89,779.

Right: Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat, circulation 49,939.

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No. 6 Xavier 65
No. 11 Minnesota 54

At first, I was immediately drawn in by the nice photo on the front of today’s Strib. But then I discovered that picture goes with a story about high school girls hoops. The Minnesota story is in the skyline.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati made its Xavier story it’s A1 centerpiece but used its art way too small — a common problem for that paper. However, the photos worked incredibly well with the clever, clever headline.

Mark up a victor for Xavier.

Left: Cincinnati Enquirer, circulation 168, 511. Lead photo by Jeff Swinger, staff.

Right: Star Tribune of Minneapolis, Minn., circulation 304,543.

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No. 3 Pittsburgh 89
No. 14 Oakland 66

Another skyline battle. I selected the Freep to represent Oakland — that tiny grey line at the very top of the page was the best A1 love the tiny school in surburban Detroit got fron anybody today. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the Tribune-Review gave Pitt a tiny photo at the upper right.

A win for Pittsburgh. But just barely.

Left: Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh, Pa., circulation 168,218.

Right: Detroit Free Press, circulation 269,729.

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EAST REGIONAL

No. 12 Cornell 78
No. 5 Temple 65

The only paper I could find giving A1 coverage to Cornell today was the Syracuse paper — which was understandably preoccupied with its own hometown school. Yet, the Post-Standard equalized its play quite a bit. This easily overcame a three-column, top-of-the-page photo by the Inky. Which wasn’t even of Temple’s loss — this photo was of Villanova, which didn’t even play Friday.

It’s a win for the paper from Syracuse — not in the Vermont vs. Syracuse contest, but for its treatment of the Ivy Leagues at Cornell.

Left: Post-Standard of Syracuse, circulation 93,688. Cornell photo by Steve Helber, the Associated Press.

Right: The Philadelphia Inquirer, circulation 288,298.

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No. 4 Wisconsin 53
No. 13 Wofford 49

Wisconsin gets treatment in a left-side rail, while the boys from tiny Wofford is blown out all over A1 in Spartanburg, S.C. Wofford’s page loses points for mostly showing backs of heads — my new sports photo pet peeve these days — but gains points back for a wonderful headline and an even better deck.

Left: Wisconsin State Journal of Madison, ciirculation 92, 213. Lead photo by Steve Apps, staff.

Right: Herald-Journal of Spartanburg, S.C., circulation 42,380. Lead photo by Gray Guetti, CalSport Media.

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No. 7 Clemson 78
No. 10 Missouri 86

Where is the Greenville News today? Where is the Anderson Independent-Mail (actually the latter never posts at the Newseum.)

This leaves my beloved Clemson Tigers without a representative in our little A1 bracket. My former paper — the Herald of Rock Hill, S.C. — is hard-pressed to fill in for them, with only a skyline and a one-column mug shot.

As luck would have it, though, it’s enough to slam-dunk the paper from Columbia, Mo., which used an even smaller promo. Clemson earns a win due to readability.

Left: The Herald of Rock Hill, S.C., circulation 30,848.

Right: the Daily Tribune of Columbia, Mo., circulation 18,131.

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No. 2 West Virginia 77
No. 15 Morgan State 50

While the Morgan State presence afront the Baltimore Sun isn’t huge today, at least it’s there — a one-column photo above the fold and a nice, bold headline.

Meanwhile, try to find a mention of this game anywhere on the front of Morganton. There’s a story at the bottom right about state agencies blocking NCAA games from live-streaming broadcasts. But no score or even a mention that the game might be a late one.

The Sun is the second paper playing double-duty for us today. And it marks its second win of the day here.

Left: Post of Morgantown, W.Va., circulation 22,792.

Right: The Sun of Baltimore, Md., circulation 186, 639. Secondary Morgan State art by Rick Stewart, Getty Images.

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SOUTH REGIONAL

No. 1 Duke 73
No. 16 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 44

Durham blew the tournament out on A1 while Little Rock — filling in for Pine Bluff, which was a no-show today at the Newseum — ran only a tiny refer in the skyline. Duke wins, despite a very goofy photo.

Left: The Herald-Sun of Durham, N.C., circulation 32,515. Lead photo by Bernard Thomas, staff.

Right: Arkansas Democrat and Chronicle of Little Rock, circulation 169.458.

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No. 8 California 77
No. 9 Louisville 62

Neither paper led with the game today, making this the Battle of the Skyboxes. A nice reverse treatment by the Merc gives Cal the nod.

Left: San Jose Mercury News, circulation 225,175.

Right: Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., circulation 176,638.

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No. 5 Texas A&M 69
No. 12 Utah State 53

The folks in Logan, Utah, led with dejected Utah State players leaving the court after the game. College Station used an action shot, so bonus points for them. But it’s so tiny. Advantage, Utah State.

Left: The Eagle of Bryan and College Station, Texas, circulation 21,654. Photo by the Associated Press.

Right: The Herald Journal of Logan, Utah, circulation 16,037. Lead photo by Braden Wolfe, staff.

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No. 4 Purdue 72
No. 13 Siena 64

Both papers led with shots taken after the game. The Purdue presentation is larger and cleaner — plus, in the Siena page, I’m mostly seeing backs of heads. Win, Purdue.

Left: Journal & Courier of Lafayette, Ind., circulation 34,545. Lead photo by Brent Drinkut, staff.

Right: The Times Union of Albany, N.Y., circulation 89,256. Lead photo by Rajah Bose of the Associated Press.

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Find Day One of our look at NCAA Tournament pages here.

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to a couple of top-notch visual journalists…

Jen Hiatt is a sports designer at the St. Petersburg Times. A 2006 graduate of Indiana University, Jen  has worked at the Times for four years. She’s also working on a master’s degree in mass communications at the University of South Florida. Part of her thesis includes an ecological-themed blog. Jen turns 26 today.

Bob Voros has been a graphic artist at the Virginian-Pilot for 17 years. A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Bob is a 1989 graduate of the State University of New York at Oswego. He spent five years at the Syracuse Post-Standard and two more at the San Antonio Express-News before joining the Pilot. Bob turns 43 today.

Jen and Bob share a birthday with actors Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Hal Linden, Carl Reiner, David Thewlis, and Fred “Mister” Rogers; director Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee; musicians Jerry Reed and Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park); model Kathy Ireland and sports greats Bobby Orr (hockey) and Pat Riley (basketball coach).

In addition, today is the Festival of Extraterrestrial Abductions. Seriously.

Best wishes, Bob; Jen! Have a wonderful birthday today!

I thought I’d do something a little different today. In honor of yesterday’s opening round of the NCAA basketball tournament, I’ll show you today’s front pages — as collected by the Newseum — head-to-head, with the hometown paper of each opposing team competing with each other for a day-after rematch.

Except instead of dunks and three-pointers, I’ll judge them on how each paper stuck the landing. So to speak.

Click anything I show you today for a slightly larger view…

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MIDWEST REGIONAL

No. 1 Kansas 90
No. 16 Lehigh 74

Yes, that’s an amusing sign the Kansas fan is holding up. And it’s a very nice page — I love the use of white space there. However, an action shot will trump a fan photo nearly every time. The one afront Allentown has an awkward crop, but it works very well with the headline. Count this as a win for Lehigh.

Left: The Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal, circulation 44,864. Lead photo by Ann Williamson, staff.

Right: The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., circulation 100,617. Lead photo by Tony Guitierrez, Associated Press.

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No. 9 Northern Iowa 69
No. 8 UNLV 66

Northern Iowa surprised a lot of folks — including me — with a nice win over UNLV Thursday. But Las Vegas earns a bit of revenge today in newsprint.

Normally, I hate after-the-game locker-room shots. I loathe them. To me, it’s as if we’re telling our readers: Yeah, we went to the game. But we spent most of it at the concession stand. So here’s a picture of the aftermath.

But man, look at those poor, dejected players here. That’s a wonderful picture. And the Las Vegas paper plays it perfectly, meaning: The designer ran it at four-and-a-half columns and then got the hell out of its way.

So it’s a three-point win for Las Vegas.

Left: Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, circulation 38,740. Photo by the Associated Press.

Right: Las Vegas Review-Journal, circulation 175,841. Photo by staffer John Locher.

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No. 6 Tennessee 62
No. 11 San Diego State 59

Tennessee earned a nice first-round win over San Diego State Thursday, but you’d never know it from looking at page one. It’s up there, just below the nameplate. But the promo shares space with… Zounds! Spring Football training has begun!

So it’s an easy win for San Diego, which used a very nice, three-column photo as lead art today.

Left: News Sentinel of Knoxville, Tenn., circulation 99,733.

Right: Union-Tribune of San Diego, circulation 242,705. Photo by Jim Rogash, Getty Images.

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No. 14 Ohio 97
No. 3 Georgetown 83

I had difficulty finding a page from Ohio that could go up against this brilliant photo on the front of today’s Washington Post. Originally, I resorted to using the Ohio University front page. But then I was tipped off by a former student editor that the OU paper wasn’t publishing this week, which is finals week. The page I posted here earlier today was from last week’s MAC championship win over Akron. D’oh!

Since I pulled my pages this morning, however, I see this one from the Columbus Dispatch has made its way into the Newseum. So although it’s only a skybox promo, it’s a very nice skybox promo. The little yellow detail work around the player’s head is a great touch. And the headline is perfect.

It doesn’t quite overcome that Post photo, however. A win for Washington.

Right: The Washington Post, circulation 582,844. Photo by staffer Jonathan Newton.

Left: The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, circulation 183,742.

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WEST REGIONAL

No. 5 Butler 77
No. 12 UTEP 59

By no stretch of the imagination is Indianapolis’ photo brilliant. But it does show emotion and movement. Meanwhile, El Paso used an interesting losing UTEP facepalm picture as the lead item in a rail, where it gets lost.

A win for Indy.

Left: The Indianapolis Star, circulation 201,823. Photo by staffer Sam Riche.

Right: El Paso Times, circulation 72,027. Photo special to the Times by Brian Kanoff.

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No. 13 Murray State 66
No. 4 Vanderbilt 65

I couldn’t find anyone in the vicinity of Murray, Ky., who played up poor Murray State. Which pulled off the upset of a lifetime Thursday. But then I stumbled upon a small paper in California, 2,000 miles away. Its brilliant, top-of-the-page treatment of a horizontal celebration shot easily trumps the armpit picture used by Nashville.

Win: Murray. By Californian proxy, Dude.

Left: The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, Calif., circulation 35,885.

Right: The Tennessean of Nashville, circulation 131,960. Lead photo by Paul Sakuma, Associated Press.

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No. 7 Brigham Young 99
No. 10 Florida 92
2OT

This was another gimme.

Hardly anyone in the Citrus State put the Gators out front — And UF’s hometown paper, the Gainesville Sun, was a no-show at the Newseum today.

Therefore, representing Florida is Jacksonville. Find the Gator presence in the second black line of the grey box: Gators fade in first round.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake did its usual bang-up job. A big win for the folks in Utah.

Left: The Salt Lake Tribune, circulation 112,585. Lead photo by Jim Urquhart, staff.

Right: The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville, circulation 109,476.

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No. 2 Kansas State 82
No. 15 North Texas 62

I also had difficulty finding a paper that could represent K-State. Wichita gave the Wildcats a better ride than anyone — and that was merely with this shared skyline.

Meanwhile, the fans in Denton’s main photo don’t look very excited. Still, Denton’s play was much more impressive than Wichita’s. Advantage North Texas.

Left: The Wichita Eagle, circulation 82,912.

Right: Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle, circulation 13,209. Fan photo by staffer David Menton; action shot by Tony Guitierrez of the Associated Press.

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EAST REGIONAL

No. 1 Kentucky 100
No. 16 East Tennessee State 71

Johnson City put their hometown boys in a tiny ear in the upper right and nearly obscured the cutout photo with the nameplate. Not surprisingly, the Herald-Leader blew out Kentucky all over page one.

This contest was about as much of a tossup as the actual game.

Left: Lexington Herald-Leader, circulation 99,707. Lead photo by Charles Bertram, staff.

Right: Johnson City (Tenn.) Press, circulation 30,670.

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No. 9 Wake Forest 81
No. 8 Texas 80

The Austin paper didn’t do much for the Texas loss, but Fort Worth ran an awesome AP photo out front. Therefore, it represents the Longhorn faithful today.

Although Wake Forest was an underdog — I think — the Journal didn’t do much with the game result today. How very strange.

A win for Fort Worth.

Left: The Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, circulation 81,930.

Right: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, circulation 167,364. Lead photo by Jim Bazemore of the Associated Press.

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No. 11 Washington 80
No. 6 Marquette 78

Wow is right… this one just killed my bracket. That’s what I get for having faith in Marquette.

While the Times‘ big purple headline is quite nice, the emotion in Milwaukee’s lead photo gives the folks in Wisconsin a win — at least in newsprint.

Left: The Seattle Times, circulation 263,588.

Right: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, circulation 190,841. Photo by the Associated Press.

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No. 3 New Mexico 62
No. 14 Montana 57

That’s a nice little under-the-nameplate promo Billings built there. But a closer look reveals the cutout isn’t even of the home team. That’s a player from Vanderbilt, which was upset by Murray State. The loss by Montana is in the tiny black type below the blue headline.

An easy win by Albuquerque, which used nice staff art.

Left: Albuquerque Journal, circulation 94,066. Lead photo by Marla Brose, staff.

Right: Billings Gazette, circulation 42,973.

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SOUTH REGIONAL

No. 11 Old Dominion 51
No. 6 Notre Dame 50

This upset was big news for Old Dominion, located just a couple of miles from the headquarters of the Virginian-Pilot. The Pilot ran a gorgeous photo above the nameplate. South Bend went with a tiny cutout skybox.

The Pilot wins much more easily than did ODU.

For what it’s worth, I called this one correctly in my brackets. Not that it did me any good, with Georgetown and Marquette doing down…

Left: Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., circulation 164,454. Photo by staffer Preston Gannaway.

Right: South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, circulation 66,886.

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No. 3 Baylor 68
No. 14 Sam Houston State 59

It was difficult to find anybody putting poor Sam Houston out on A1 today. The best I could do was this tiny promo at the upper right of Temple, Texas, about two-and-a-half hours from Huntsville, Texas, where Sam Houston is located.

Clear win: Waco, also with nice staff art.

Left: Waco Tribune-Herald, circulation 36,708. Lead photo by staffer Duane Laverty.

Right: Temple Daily Telegram, circulation 25,000.

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No. 10 St. Mary’s 80
No. 7 Richmond 71

You have to love the Gaels of St. Mary’s, squashing the Richmond Spiders. The Contra Costa times led with excited fans watching the game on TV.

But the emotive photo on the right — and the great March Sadness headline — gives the Times-Dispatch a decisive win.

Left: Contra Costa Times of Walnut Creek, Calif., circulation 174, 852. Photos by staffer Susan Tripp.

Right: Richmond Times-Dispatch, circulation 133,161. Lead photo by Elisa Amendola, Associated Press.

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No. 2 Villanova 73
No. 15 Robert Morris 70
OT

We’ll end our day with these perfectly bookended fronts…

Close indeed — This game would have been a major bracket-busting upset had Robert Morris of Pittsburgh pulled off the win Thursday.

I like the emotion on the face of the fans watching TV, afront Pittsburgh. I also prefer the white space I see on the right, as opposed to the restrictive feel of the page on the left.

But the wonderful staff-shot game art by Philly makes the difference. Villanova wins.

Left: Philadephia Inquirer, circulation 288,298. Lead picture by staffer Ron Cortes.

Right: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, circulation 184,234. Lead photo by staffer Robin Runbach.

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This was an interesting little exercise. But here’s a heads-up: I won’t be able to do this again Saturday or Sunday. I’m on the road Saturday and then I’m teaching a session on newsletter design Sunday in D.C.

A story in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal provided a look behind the famous stipple “headcuts” one sees in that paper.

If you can suffer through the opening advertisement, you might find this video interesting:

Talking points:

• The headcut staff consists of four staff artists and four free-lancers.
• A typical headcut takes two to five hours. The artists prefer to have five hours, obviously.
• The headcuts are drawn 3 inches by 5 inches and then reduced to the half-column size at which they run.
• The artists now work from home. They receive their assignments via e-mail, print out the photos, trace with rapidograph-on-vellum, and then send their scanned art back to the office via e-mail.
• The tradition of the stipple portraits didn’t begin until 1979. Granted, I would have been a 12-grader then. But the tradition doesn’t go back as far as I would have thought.

“We don’t use computers,” Journal artist Noli Novak
is quoted as saying. “Everything is done by hand. …
And we keep the process sacred.”
—

Tiger Woods, left, was included as a sample with the story. I found Stephon Marbury on a WSJ PDF I had on my hard drive:

Interesting how they’re both sports figures. I wonder if the subject matter of stipple headcuts has shifted a bit over the past few years.

I found another WSJ page-one PDF on my hard drive — one that contained a drawing of an eight-track tape, believe it or not. And today’s front page includes art of medical marijuana:

Even though we’ve always referred to these drawings as “stipple,” you’ll find a lot more crosshatching than stipple here. Especially on the eight-track.

Find the Wall Street Journal story here.

The best page of the day among those posted at the Newseum today was this powerful yet brilliantly simple page by the Detroit News, looking back on the Christmas Day underwear bomber (click for a larger view):

Presentation editor Richard Epps tells us:

Cindy Jacobs, our news design director, designed the terror package. Tyler Rau designed the remainder of the page. Graphic artist Aaron Hightower contributed the substantial inside graphic presence.

Here’s Aaron’s graphic (Click for a readable version):

And here are the two inside pages. Again, click for larger views:

Download PDF files of all three pages here.

Rick also tells us:

Sadly, this is Cindy’s last burst of great design for us, as her last day is today..

See my earlier post for the rest of that thought.

Rick continues:

The package was essentially a tick-tock that unwrapped previously unknown details about the attempted terrorist bombing of a flight over our skies Christmas Day. When the attempted detonation occurred, the plane was flying over the heavily populated east-side suburbs of Grosse Pointe and St. Clair Shores, headed for Detroit Metro Airport. Reporter Ron French helped recount the terror of that flight in our paper today.

My favorite excerpt:

[Roey] Rosenblith had watched Up and Inglourious Basterds, and was rounding out the trip with Land of the Lost when he heard muffled cries of “fire.”

This is how his life would end, Rosenblith thought, in coach class watching a Will Ferrell movie.

Brilliant. Find the story here.

Average daily circulation for the Detroit News is 167,849.

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Speaking of movies, I was intrigued by this photoillustration on the front of today’s A.M. New York, circulation 266,852:

I had difficulty believing that “some kids” really believe Buzz Lightyear was the first man to walk on the moon. Or that “some kids” even believe Buzz Lightyear is even a real person. So I clicked over the A.M. New York’s web site to read the story and to copy over the link to give you.

And gave up after 20 minutes or so of searching for it. Man, that’s one sucky web site they have there.

The story wasn’t posted anywhere I could find it. In fact, very few stories had been posted from today’s edition, even as late as 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. (It was finally posted here, just before noon.)

You can, however, download the entire daily edition as a PDF file. Here is the Buzz Lightyear story, as it appeared on today’s page three (click for a readable view):

And that’s when we discover:

1. The children surveyed about their knowledge of scientific history were British, not American.
2. The group surveyed was ages four to 16.
3. The survey was conducted online.

Not exactly that condemnation of the U.S. public school system that you might expect, given the huge A1 treatment.

A big thumbs down to A.M. New York today. And in case you’d like to see the story done right — and put into proper perspective — read Entertainment Weekly’s version. Or the one in the U.K. Telegraph.

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I was also a little disappointed with the photoillustration on the front of today’s Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., circulation 100,617:

Cell phones haven’t been banned in Allentown. Their use while driving has been banned. I would think anything pulled together to illustrate this story for A1 might focus on — or at least include — the driving aspect. Cars. A street. A steering wheel.

This page was, regrettably, neither effective nor attractive.

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The front page Photo of the Day is this gem from Killeen, Texas, showing kids crawling over huge vehicles during the city’s Truck Day:

Truck Day is an opportunity for kids to get up close and personal with trucks, tractors and other fun machines.

While I’m sure it’s all completely safe and supervised, it is a little jarring to see this child in the clutches of what is essentially a giant Snort. Until we see the other widdle kid at the controls.

The picture is by Catrina Rawson of the Killeen Daily Herald. Here it is on page one today:

Average daily circulation for the Daily Herald is 20,000.