Saturday, March 20, 2010

Headlines and Priorities (?)

Lessee....West Virginia University's men's basketball team is a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won their first game in this eagerly-anticipated event.

What did the sports editor select as the lead story on the sports page? Baseball. In March. During the regular season. Against noted baseball power Eastern Michigan from the sports hotbed of Ypsilanti. Oh - there's a wrestling blurb in there also but it requires moving to a jump page.

Oh - look - there's the basketball story halfway down the page! It's the USA Today Attention Deficit & Hyperactive Disorder school of layout and design! Here a column! There a sidebar! There a teaser for stories inside - but you must travel all the way to Page 6-B for coverage of the most important sporting event this month!

Just imagine if the critical (apparently) stories on college baseball were moved to the prime (apparently) real estate on Page 6-B! Why you might even have enough room to publish the entire game story without the need for a jump page, thus serving your readers AND making your layout less chaotic! What's that? Yes - you can also move a non-story about non-WVU players being paraded like cattle at the stockyard in anticipation of the NFL Draft.

Also included is a story on a WVU recruit. But he's still in high school! Before we cover the people who haven't put on the uniform yet why not cover those who are currently wearing the uniform?

Wow - now there's plenty of room - even for those whose common sense has temporarily disappeared!

Newspaper types will say, no doubt, that 'readers want to see all the previous day's results at a glance.' Erm, no. Readers want to see the IMPORTANT results. The opening round of the NCAA Tournament involving the #2 seeded college team is important. Baseball against a MAC school is not important. Football players running around cones in the off-season is even less important.