Front-page philosophy: balanced, varied, engaging

The e-mail used asterisks in a bow to civility, but they didn't mask the writer's anger about that day's front page.

"What the H*** were you thinking? ... I am shocked by your superficiality," the Seattle reader wrote. What set him off was a story at the top of the page announcing Zune, Microsoft's wireless competitor to the Apple iPod, and photos in the middle of the page of actress Sarah Jessica Parker greeting downtown shoppers and promoting her new perfume. The reader was upset that a story about former Secretary of State Colin Powell opposing President Bush on terrorism detainees was at the bottom of the page.

Another reader wrote, "With all the critical news stories to cover in this day and age, I could not believe my eyes when I opened my SEATTLE TIMES today! ... Surely one of the articles buried way back on pages 12 or 13 deserved better exposure, such as the Darfur crisis or NATO's failure to provide troops to Afghanistan — but I guess those stories couldn't supply a nice picture with them! This surely is proof of the 'dumbing down' of today's SEATTLE TIMES."

A few days later some other readers protested a front-page story and photos about some 9,000 people who showed up for the "American Idol" auditions at Seattle Center. "A military coup in Thailand is consigned deep within the section while American Idol is splashed across the front page. A sad commentary on our culture and your newspaper," wrote a Lynnwood man.

"Where's the War?" wrote a Woodinville woman. "Today, not unlike most other days, headlines from The Seattle Times shouted about a Boeing order, an election, and most prominently the biggest news story of the day — the 'American Idol' audition ... How can it be that I couldn't find a thing about the Iraq War until page 11 in The Times?"

For the past 20 years, Executive News Editor Mike Stanton has been the person most directly responsible for the selection of stories for page one of The Times and for developing the newspaper's front-page philosophy. "I don't mind it when people care enough about the newspaper to be mad at me," he said.

He's communicated with a lot of folks over the years, he said with a hearty laugh, and "there isn't one who doesn't feel he could do better than I do."

Over the years Stanton has conducted an exercise in which he asks groups of people to look at a list of stories and decide which they would put on the front page. Even among journalists, most people are "absolutely certain" there is only one right set of choices. One intelligent, thoughtful and caring person is stunned to learn that an equally intelligent, thoughtful and caring person has made different selections.

"It's personal. It's subjective," Stanton said. And it's hard to understand that other people don't have the exact same interests or priorities that you do.

When Stanton began his career in the late 1960s in Providence, R.I., the typical newspaper front page was "government, politics, crime and war and not much else. There was a sense that was what the front page was for."

Some readers wish it were so today. The ones who are most upset with the current mix are those who have a very strong interest in an undeniably important subject. They rage when their topic is relegated to an inside page and subordinated to something they think is less important, or even frivolous.

But, "we're not trying to appeal to just one kind of reader," Stanton said. Instead, the philosophy is "Let's try to have something out there for just about every kind of reader."

The page-one philosophy doesn't downplay importance; it recognizes different stories are important in different ways to different people. It provides better balance, variety and a change of pace to be more engaging to a wider range of readers.

People are inundated by news throughout the day, most of it bad. Stanton hears from many who say, "I don't need to pay for the newspaper to make me feel bad. I've got the rest of the world to do that for free."

"They don't want a frivolous newspaper, but they don't want to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer, either," he said.

Often the most "important" story in traditional terms is old news, having been on television and the Internet extensively the previous day. So, our front-page philosophy says we should offer stories that provide context — "why it matters, what's going to happen next, what it all means."

Stanton led an extensive effort to revamp our front-page philosophy last year. I'll post the final document with this column online and send it to readers who request a copy, but here are some important points:

"We must have at least one very good, well-displayed piece of local enterprise available every day, something readers haven't already heard about, don't already know, can't get anywhere else."

"The stories are only part of the package; strong headlines, attractive design, informative graphics, compelling photographs and strong ties to seattletimes.com must draw the reader in and create a complete experience."

"[Page one] must not talk down to readers, recognizing that they will decide what's important, what's interesting, what's relevant to their daily lives. And if we don't provide it, they won't need us."

With that last point in mind, Stanton said, "We try to get back to every person who writes or calls. People may not agree, but they deserve an explanation. We have an obligation to be able to explain why we did what we did, even if we say, 'Yeah, you're right. That one didn't work.' "

As you critique the front page, evaluate it over several days. Recognize that the day after the "American Idol" audition, page one had a powerful Los Angeles Times account of life in Baghdad and the amazing story of a Seattle cabdriver's five-year crusade to reunite his Sudanese family, written by Times reporter Lornet Turnbull.

The humanity of those stories should calm any fears of superficiality or dumbing down the newspaper.

If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to seattletimes.com">mfancher@seattletimes.com.

More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists