Newsdesigner.com | NICK BERG EXECUTION COVERAGE

NICK BERG EXECUTION COVERAGE

12:29 PM, May 12, 2004

Of 186 U.S. front pages, 140 ran an image (more than a mug) with the Nick Berg beheading story. Here's the breakdown, with examples:

50 ran the grieving father photo alone
40 ran the grieving father photo as the lead with terrorist video capture secondary
22 ran a video capture of terrorists alone
18 ran a video capture of terrorists as the lead with grief photo secondary
5 ran a less dramatic family photo alone
2 ran the family photo as the lead with the terrorist photo secondary
1 ran a terrorist main with family secondary
1 ran the grief and terrorist photos equally
1 ran a series of video captures

Of 125 foreign front pages, 28 ran an image:

15 ran video capture of terrorists alone
4 ran the grieving father photo as the lead with terrorist video capture secondary
4 ran a video capture of the beheading in progress
2 ran video capture of terrorists as the lead with grief photo secondary
1 ran the grieving father photo alone
1 ran the grief and terrorist photos equally
1 ran a less dramatic family photo alone

And here, the Testy Copy Editors' discussion over whether to run the URL of where to find the video has evolved into a discussion about grief photos.

>The Testy Ethicist� [Testy Copy Editors]

Comments

Heads up: After you hit "post" things may be slow and you may get an error. Most likely, your comment did post. Apologies. I'm looking for a fix.

"Bastards" is one of those awful tabloid Page One headlines whose only saving grace is that they can be used only once. Someone at the Philadelphia Daily News forgot.

Posted by: Phillip Blanchard at May 12, 2004 12:57 PM

And here I thought the SF Examiner had the trademark on "Bastards."

Posted by: Kenney at May 12, 2004 1:56 PM

This is superb. It totally connects with readers and pushes beyond just repeating what I already knew to reflect instead how I felt. I don't think anyone at the PDN forgot anything -- they nailed it.

Posted by: Steve D at May 12, 2004 6:59 PM

What, FUCKHEADS wouldn't fit?

Posted by: Bill at May 13, 2004 2:17 PM