Charles Apple

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.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 1:50 pm and is filed under A look at the day's fronts, Illustration, News design, Photojournalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.