Douglas E. Jessmer

In the June 2008 issue of Publisher’s Auxiliary, the newspaper of the National Newspaper Assn., there’s a headline that caught my eye:

“Production should be handled by professionals”

Well, yes. But what’s defined in the column below that headline as “professional”… isn’t.

Consultant Ken Blum says it’s inefficient for reporters and editors to lay out a weekly paper.

He’s right when he says five different reporters and editors can create a newspaper that looks like a camel — designed by committee. But then he says the wrong thing, in my opinion: “My advice — if you want your baby not to look like Joe Camel and get to bed on time, turn it over to the nannies in your graphics department. They have been better trained for the job, and they can do it better and faster.”

WHAT?

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Tribune Co.’s Lee Abrams is back at it again, and I’ve already heard positive buzz from newsies outside the Tribune ranks.

Poynter’s Jim Romenesko has the “think piece” here.

Abrams, the company’s chief innovation officer, says newspapers have to break out the 2×4s to get people’s attention. You may have read earlier memos, where he’s said it’s time to scream, 1930s-style. Now he’s saying we have to hit readers over the head so they’ll know we have reporters in the field:

I met a reporter who spent 4 years in Baghdad. Dodging bullets…staying in Hotels protected by the Marines. Yet, I’ll bet NO-one outside of the building knew this person was risking their life in Iraq to get YOU the news. If it were CNN, you’d see rockets and RPG’s in the background as the reporter ducks shrapnel. In the paper, it’s usually a small byline.

You’re all probably thinking there’s a troll in Indiana you’d like to assign to a war-coverage job like that. But seriously, how many newspapers scream that they’re devoting their own resources to bring the world home?

(crickets chirping)

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You read right. The Florida Press Association’s Better Weekly Newspaper Awards included a second-place award for the Pinellas News for “overall graphic design.”

(Images and more after the break.)

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