Charles Apple

My daughter writes:

My name is Elizabeth Apple. I’m a 17-year-old rising senior. Tuesday, my mother and I went to see Eclipse, the third movie of the Twilight series.

My dad asked me to write what I hate or like about the following pages.

—
RedEye
Chicago, Ill.
(Free) distribution: 250,000

Elizabeth writes:

What I like about this page is the vampire teeth around the photo of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. It seems appropriate.

—
The Times of Northwest Indiana
Munster, Ind.
Circulation: 83,680
Lead photo: John Luke, staff

Elizabeth writes:

The reason why I like this is because it shows fans waiting for their tickets or waiting for the movie doors to open.

I wonder if their parents know that there are boys there…

—
Akron Beacon Journal
Akron, Ohio
Circulation: 102,981
Local photos: Karen Schiely, staff

Elizabeth writes:

I like this page because it show teens waiting for the movie to start, but also texting while they’re waiting. Make sure you guys turn your cell phones off when the movie starts!

Unless you’re texting Edward or Jacob. That, I can understand.

It also seems like two of the girls are playing a hand game. I wonder: Which game?

—
York Dispatch
York, Pa.
Circulation: 22,280
Lead photo: Amanda Dolasinski, staff (who also wrote the story)

Elizabeth writes:

Here are four girls waiting to see the movie. But the reason why I like it is this: Under the photo, there’s a photo of the new-born vampires.

I wonder if the vampires are related to the girls…

—
Index-Journal
Greenwood, S.C.
Circulation: 14,833
Local photos: T.M. James, staff

Elizabeth writes:

The page isn’t that bad. I like the way it shows the new-born vampires coming out of the water. I also like the way the two girls are sitting on the movie theater floor, waiting for the movie.

It also shows a fan dressed up. She almost looks like a cardboard cutout.

—
Daily Herald
Provo, Utah
Circulation: 30,910
Photos: Kristin Heinichen, staff

Elizabeth writes:

This page is my favorite because I like the way they set up the lines in the picture. But are there two different lines for Team Edward and Team Jacob?

Also, the poles in the background are on their sides. Maybe Edward and Jacob knocked them over while they argued over Bella.

—
Post and Courier
Charleston, S.C.
Circulation: 86,928

Elizabeth writes:

The banner is bad, it’s just, Er… I don’t know how to put it in words. Let’s just say I don’t think teens want to be caught at the movie with their mothers.

Here’s where I remind you that my wife Sharon was indeed the one who took Elizabeth to the movie last night. Elizabeth can hardly complain, though: At least Sharon paid for the tickets.

Elizabeth sighs, though:

I had to buy my own popcorn.

—
Johnson City Press
Johnson City, Tenn.
Circulation: 30,670

Elizabeth writes:

This banner, to me, makes no sense at all. I’ll bet Edward is saying “Don’t get any ideas, Mutt.”

Jacob is saying, “Wait; I wasn’t thinking about that.”

—
Daily Herald
Everett, Wash.
Circulation: 50,272

Elizabeth writes:

The banner seems to be OK, but I really don’t like it. I like the headline because it seems to bring out the movie. But shouldn’t there be at least a photo of Edward and Jacob fighting?

—

Thanks, Elizabeth. I think.

All these pages are from the Newseum, of course.

The Sanford, N.C., Herald published a nice Eclipse front on Tuesday. Find that midway down this post.

And my pals at the Victoria, Texas, Advocate put out a truly cool Eclipse extravaganza last Friday. Read all about that here.

Note: This is one of two posts I was trying to write Tuesday when our servers came crashing down around our ankles. Rather than let it go, I’m posting it a day late.
—

There were a number of things that stood out during my daily run through the Newseum — and most of them were brought to us by smaller and medium-sized papers.

And that delights me no end, my friends. There’s nothing quite like finding a stunning news presentation and then realizing it was published by a paper, say, 50,000 or below in circulation size. We need more scrappy little papers like this — ones that kick ass both locally and visually.

Our first page is from the Gazette of Charleston, West Virginia, which celebrated the passing of its beloved senator Robert Byrd with a 20-year-old — but brilliantly scenic — file photo:

Kudos to the 48,061-circulation Gazette for turning over its entire front to displaying Sen. Byrd. And a double-dipping of kudos for that photo by staffer Jim Noelker, who shot this in 1990 (click for a larger view):

Ain’t that just grand? That’s how you celebrate the life of a figure as huge as Byrd.

West Hawaii Today — a 13,000-circulation daily in Kailua, Hawaii — had the opposite problem: How do you show something that’s not been built yet, without relying on handout photos?

Yeah, that can be a problem. And sometimes, it’s not a problem at all. Handouts were no weakness at all for WHT:

Obviously, the designers extended the sky and the mountain. But that doesn’t seem a problem with a handout photo. Or, at least, it doesn’t bother me.

Next up: A paper you’ve seen featured here several times lately, the News-Press of St. Joseph, Mo., with yet another in a long series of over-the-nameplate news photo treatments:

That photo — of a house with a new second floor in progress interrupted by heavy flooding — is by staffer Eric Keith (click for a larger view):

Average daily circulation for the News-Press is 29,295.

In Canton, Ohio, the big story is the nearly $2.5 million that a city official embezzled over five years from the treasury. The Repository plastered A1 with a diagram showing just how much money that would be, if it were piled up at one time:

That’s not even actual size — it couldn’t possibly have been printed actual size. A stack of $20 bills containing $2.46 million would be 44.2 feet tall, the graphic says. The designer even broke the total down year-to-year (click for a larger view)…

…and presented the text as a short-form Alternative Story Form.

My only complaint? No credit to the artist or designer. Surely he or she earned one here.

Average daily circulation for the Repository is 61,036.

In Sanford, N.C., the Herald — circulation 8,162 — focused on last night’s midnight showing of the new entry in the Twilight saga, a movie called Eclipse:

Not only is that a cool way to reach out to teen — and tween — readers, it’s also very well-designed. The ribbon is a visual reference to the actual book cover. I love the way it interacts with the old-English drop cap, the large-type lead-in and the brilliant headline.

I was equally delighted with this presentation of a bridge collapse follow in yesterday’s Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn.:

By this time, I’d imagine the Pioneer Press has used every file photo a bazillion times. Granted, I’ve not looked at every one. But this one seems fresh and new and visually interesting:

Average daily circulation for the Pioneer Press is 185,220.

Note: This is one of two posts I was trying to write Tuesday when our servers came crashing down around our ankles. Rather than let it go, I’m posting it a day late.
—

Perhaps you noticed the Elena Kagan A1 art used Tuesday by three of the nation’s largest and most notable dailies.

Each of the three shows a completely different angle; gives a completely different look at the confirmation spectacle currently going on in D.C.

Click any of these for a larger view:

On the left is the Los Angeles Times with a shot by Pablo Martinez Monsivais that showed the lone nominee facing down the big, bad senators:

Average daily circulation for the LAT is 616,606.

Next up is this shot by staffer Luke Sharrett of the New York Times, brilliantly giving us an angle we just don’t see that often — let’s call it a Kagan’s-eye view:

Average daily circulation of the NYT is 951,063.

And finally, there’s this picture by Melina Mara of the Washington Post, who gave us a candid Kagan moment between the darts and laurels:

Average daily circulation of the Post is 578,482.

Three big papers, three different angles. All of them brilliant.