Last Updated: January 26, 2000
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The front page
The Front Page is an occasional look at how our front pages reflect
what our newspapers value. If you would like to have your front page considered,
contact Al Siegal of The New York Times at 212/556-1049 or siegal@nytimes.com
News broke out on the local, state and international fronts on this
day, forcing us to make some difficult decisions. The page reflects our
understanding of what is important to our community and what touches the
basic emotions of our readers.
Our first problem was how to give two stories — the arrest in the disappearance
of a local 6-year-old and the police chief’s cancer diagnosis — sufficient
play above the fold. Home delivery makes up a majority of our circulation,
but rack sales are important in such a competitive market. We pay a great
deal of attention to the top half of the page.
Opal Jennings was the second child to disappear from our area in two
years, raising the emotional stakes for the community. We decided to blow
out the arrest story. We chose the sidebar because it was a colorful read
that offered insight into the main players and because it was something
our competitors did not have.
We knew that the police chief’s illness would stun the community. He
has overseen a big drop in the city’s crime rate and repaired the department’s
relations with minorities, making him an integral part of the city’s sense
of well-being. Stories that touch on people’s feelings of safety are an
easy call: We knew this one would.
The second problem was how to tell our readers about the new education
commissioner. We used the teasers. On a slower day, this would have been
a Page One story. The Board of Education recommends textbooks, a controversial
topic in our conservative, Bible Belt area.
Gov. George W. Bush’s campaign has been a Page One story since January.
His answer to the drug question is relevant — and a cover story — because
he is a law-and-order candidate from a law-and-order state (again, the
Bible Belt).
Local news is our reason for being. Nevertheless, our market is large
and diverse, and readers expect all the news of the day. Understanding
that, we saved a spot for the horrible destruction in Turkey. It ran at
the bottom of the page for two reasons: It was three days old, and it wasn’t
unique. It had been all over the media for days.
By the way, the “To our readers” box is not a typical feature, but we
needed to explain that a fire scare in the pressroom had delayed the previous
morning’s delivery.
Vetter is managing editor/news for the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram.
