In the newsroom, at least, there was a bit of consternation with today's Page 1 centerpiece on the bombing in Pakistanyesterday. It has been so long since we centered with a wire story that the page just felt different, maybe less relevant than usual. And, frankly, wire stories are almost always stale by the time they hit the print edition. Deciding what to put on Page 1 on any given day is a process of judgment, limited by what is available. Yesterday, there were no good story/photo options for Page 1 from the local budget. Just one of those days. A story or two fell through, a story was held and you get to 4:30 p.m. with a bare cupboard. So turning to the wire becomes a logistical necessity. Still, we might have made other decisions earlier in the day had we simply concluded we would NOT centerpiece with a wire story on Page 1 for any reason/Steve Smith, News Is A Conversation.
Question: So, what do you think? Was the Bhuto story old news? Would you rather see a softer local centerpeice -- say the bannana boy from the Northwest cover -- than a harder news wire package from halfway around the world? What decisions would you have made differently today?
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
yesterday. It has been so long since we centered with a wire story that the page just felt different, maybe less relevant than usual. And, frankly, wire stories are almost always stale by the time they hit the print edition. Deciding what to put on Page 1 on any given day is a process of judgment, limited by what is available. Yesterday, there were no good story/photo options for Page 1 from the local budget. Just one of those days. A story or two fell through, a story was held and you get to 4:30 p.m. with a bare cupboard. So turning to the wire becomes a logistical necessity. Still, we might have made other decisions earlier in the day had we simply concluded we would NOT centerpiece with a wire story on Page 1 for any reason/Steve Smith, News Is A Conversation.
