TDP layout

The Wall Street Journal used to be instantly recognizable by its familiar and unyielding front-page format.

Sadly the ADD types got hold of it and added color and knocked down the barriers between columns. Now it looks like an educated version of USA Today. Not necessarily a good thing.

In Morgantown however TDP are keeping the spirit of the unchanging front-page layout alive by trotting out more of the same day after day.

Weather? Check.
Sports teaser? Check
Reference to reprint of days-old AP story everyone has already read half a dozen times on the Internet or in other newspapers? Check.

TDP have doggedly stuck with the 'quirky story of the day' although it's not credited as such. Set aside by a highlight box it usually features a dumb criminal or a how-about-that Reader's Digest anecdote. TDP editors probably hope or imagine that Fred will put his coffee down and say 'Oh my goodness - Myra, listen to this....'

Problem is these quirky stories have even less shelf life than hard-news stories and the quirkies have made the Internet portal and viral e-mail rounds for a solid 24 hours before TDP faithfully reprints them.

News for TDP: these stories aren't half as funny or interesting as you think they are and publishing one per day does not demonstrate a sense of humor but rather a lack of imagination and energy where front-page formatting is concerned.