Massacre
Bloodbath
Campus carnage
Deadliest shooting
Shock
Horror
Students in mourning
(and the worst possible approach) 33 dead

Yesterday's news tomorrow.

Newspapers have got to simply commit to spinning the story forward, or providing deeper analysis, if they want to remain relevant. Especially on a story that's more than 24 hours old being constantly updated on TV and online.

Amen, Bonita. Orlando was one of the few who got it right today. Kudos -- and thanks -- to all those who did.

And in that regard, thumbs down for the policemen-carrying-blurry-students pictures that constituted most papers' dominant art today. We saw that scene a million times on TV the *entire day*, why is it necessary to see it again? What more does it tell us?

I'll be honest. The first front page today that stopped me cold was the Collegiate Times.

Yeah, I know it's the college paper there, and of course it's going to hit close to home. But I think they conveyed a lot of emotion in their words and photo today.

Having been in their situation -- needing to put your role as a student and human being aside in the name of putting a campus tragedy of the highest order in perspective -- I have to commend what they turned out today.

Wow! The Virginia Tech paper is more sophisticated and thoughtful than the pros. Impressive indeed.

Thanks for posting the Collegiate Times, it beat the pants off any "professional" paper. They also had the most amazing onlinge coverage - complete with a multimedia flash show - during the ordeal. A standing O from Orlando for their spectacular journalism.

When i first saw the Collegiate Times early this morning, it really made me stop and appreciate the angle they took, so subtle yet so powerful Great Job!

Kudos to the students at VTECH for their newspaper! Excellent use of typography and dom foto. Very moving. Great job, VTECH.

We used a next day hed with a simple, but effective, "Why" in a huge sans serif. Kinda crazy that the Wichita Eagle looks nearly identical to the Journal.

Hats off to the Collegiate Times. Nice job on such a difficult occasion, guys.

First of all, I'm so impressed with the Collegiate Times. What a contemplative presentation.

Meanwhile, does anyone else think that alliterative headlines are too flippant when describing a such a horrible crime? I also thought that using the word "campus" seems sort of diminutive. heartache from this tragedy extends way beyond the campus itself, don't you think?

I agree that it's important for newspapers to spin their stories forward. But in a situation like this, the simple facts of the story have enough impact to demand a second reading, even the day after.

Also, I think that the Orlando paper took things one step too far. The questions posed by their headlines are too inflammatory and unfairly portray the situation. I don't think there was enough evidence at press time Monday night to really support the accusations made by those headlines.

Fianlly, as a college newspaper editor, I was blown away by the Collegiate Times. It was amazing, very measured and heartfelt.

I will also add kudos in for the students at the Collegiate Times. As a college journalist I could only imagine covering something of this magnitude while hitting so close to home. They should truly be commended and did an amazing job. I went to them for my online coverage and appreciated all they have done.

The Production Department at The Cavalier Daily (The student newspaper of the University of Virginia) wishes to express its condolences and admire the perseverance and talent of the design staff at the Collegiate Times. I hope that our paper's portrayal was tasteful and can only hope to be as heartfelt in design. Our rivalry is replaced by brotherhood; as Larry Sabato has said, Today we are all Hokies.

Here is our page: http://www.cavalierdaily.com/.Archives/2007/04/17/frontpage.gif

The Collegiate Times had the best front page hands down. I'm amazed what a great job they did in such a horrible situation.

The Collegiate Times had the best front page hands down. I'm amazed what a great job they did in such a horrible situation.

Darts to the Wall Street Journal, which showed a complete and utter lack of class in their playing of this story. "World-Wide"? please!

NPD has a slide show of Va. Tech fronts on the home page.

I agree with the above poster about the overblown Orlando front page. Visually it's just awful, and I don't think it's good journalism to throw out those inflammatory tabloidy questions when so few facts were in at the time. Very dangerous. Not edgy, dangerous.

Bonita is sort of right, in a deluded optomistic kind of way where your content forges that far ahead...

But most US newspapers at that stage of production couldn't answer those questions... some international papers, notably UK, Asia and Australasia had better information/covers than almost all US papers. The Age in Australia, namely, for having images of the killer and all the victims,

So it's stupid to say those kind of "massacre" headlines are meaningless when they most clearly caputure the mood. No reason having "why" headlines when it's anybody's freakin' guess.

Also, a MASSIVE nod to the VT paper for their brilliant, powerful and somber front page... SND or some form of authoritive organizartion better give them a form of recognition for this... Are you reading this guys?

I'm glad to see people here questioning the judgment in Orlando.

Those headlines were almost baseless, and a paper that exercises good journalism would not have run with them.

The Tuesday fronts that worked best for me either:

1. helped the reader draw closer to the event (the Rocky's 'It lasted forever,' for instance); or
2. posed the questions Americans were asking in the aftermath (the Freep's: '2 hours between shootings. Could the massacre have been stopped?', Chicago Tribune's 'Where were the warnings?' Philly Daily News' 'Shock, Grief and Questions')

A number of papers hit at both of those themes successfully.

As far as our paper, the stories we ran explored the questions we raised in our display type.
I'm not sure I see the 'danger' in posing questions when we don't have answers. The danger is in not asking questions. Isn't it?

Orlando's packaging reflected our content, which was edited from a next-day perspective. That's all I'm advocating. The facts certainly do demand a second reading, and we used the graphic and first-person account to carry the "how it happened" news of the day.

But that wasn't the focus of our coverage. Our main story concentrated on the search for answers to the very questions the headline posed. It was centered around the ongoing inquiry into the lapses in campus security that allowed the second shooting to occur. The second story is about such measures being revisted in Florida's universities. Stories built on facts gathered on an East Coast deadline by reporters with a day-after orientation.

Cap on the design if you must, but please don't judge the newsgathering effort until you've actually read these well-reported and edited stories.

Darrell said: "some form of authoritive organizartion better give them a form of recognition for this... Are you reading this guys?"

This image is now leading the front page at VisualEditors.com where there is an 40+ comment thread debate about how different newspapers newspapers played this story.

I am posting next, in the ViZeds blog, a video that illustrates 59 unique, important or interesting front pages from around the world so that we all may study a concentrated grouping that demonstrate a variety of choices that newsrooms faced in telling this news. It is our opinion that it is up to the community to decide with one is the Best Front Page.

The new video will be viral - so you can easily share it around and discuss it in YOUR newsroom.

What security lapses are we talking about?

The lack of a campus lockdown after the first shooting...the failure to alert students that a gunman was on the loose..the ability of Cho to get a pair of pistols into a dorm in the first place...

Those are security lapses? I dare say I could, as a student, walk into any dorm at any college with a gun in my backpack. What your "questions" amount to is piling on, as if the situation in Va. were unique. It's not, and it's irresponsible to imply anything of the kind, especially when the wire story you popped onto the page on to fit your design (which I'd bet $100 came first) did not tell that story in its entirety.

I certainly don't want to get knee-deep into this debate, but the fact that students can walk into a dorm with a gun is EXACTLY the type of security lapse to which I believe Bo was referring (along with the others she's already mentioned). And, unless I've been living under a rock, the situation at VT was unique ... as the deadliest gun massacre in U.S. history.

Criticize the design all you want, but I will say this much: The headlines came AFTER we read the wires and after our news editors compiled the stories, particularly the one I've included. I think we all agree design should reflect the news of the day, not the other way around. So, with regard to that $100 bet, we accept personal checks and most major credit cards. ;o)
_______

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — On a university campus of 2,600 acres, with more than 26,000 students, ironclad security is not a practical goal. Even so, tough questions swiftly surfaced as to how effectively Virginia Tech authorities responded to Monday's horrific massacre.
Why were campus police so sure the threat was a "domestic dispute" contained in one dormitory, when most of the killings occurred two hours later in a classroom building? Why were they interviewing a "person of interest" off campus in regard to the first shootings at the very time the classroom killings were unfolding? Why was there a lag of more than two hours after the first shootings before an alarm was e-mailed campuswide — around the time the second, more deadly burst of carnage occurred? And more generally, some security experts wondered, was the school's crisis planning and emergency communications system up to the task?
Clearly, something went terribly wrong.
_______

You haven't cited any specific lapses, though; just the same questions.

And the bet was whether the design came first, not the headlines. Pay Gerio his money.

Good grief, people. The executive editor herself wrote the headlines and worked with the editing and design until 11p.m. We took great care to be responsible as well relevant. I'm sorry the point of my post has been lost. Let's move on.

Yeah, your point's been rejected.

I haven't even see Orlando's front page yet, but lemme guess what their "brilliance" was: another centerpiece with two giant red (or black) bars to anchor the top and bottom -- with the top bar reading "EXCLUSIVE!!!" in reverse print.

Lots of talk, Bonita, from a paper that has the same three layouts for breaking news. And who cares if your editor herself wrote the headlines? Does that make them any more (or less) accurate?

The only thing that set your presentation apart from any other day's front page was the lack of a ripped-from-the-paper illustration with a drop shadow. Or the typical graphic clutter you call maps.

Well said, Mike. Roll out boilerplate "disaster" layout number three ...

Tell your executive editor to stick to budgets and social events. Headlines are not her strong suit.

And this from a Sentinel reader (of course, what do THEY know?)

"Without even reading the article, the headline from Tuesday's paper is upsetting. What about focusing on what happened, the tragedy and the victims?! ...

Instead, the media choose to focus on pointing fingers. "Why Wasn't He Stopped?" the headline reads. Once the authorities have worked through the scene and events, then it may be time to ask questions regarding what could have been done differently, was there some neglect, how do we learn from this?

But not yet. Let us learn what happened and grieve.

Debbie Johnson

Winter Park"

Mike, we'll get working right away on template No.4. And Geri, nice of you to omit the letters of praise from the readers that DID bother to read the article.

But good chat about irresponsibility, everyone.

Melissa: thank you for showing the content you included in your main story. Excellent way to edit a story ... very very smart.

Umm, zoom in on Orlando's front page. The story she posted is NOT there. Like I said, they pick the design first then try to make the story fit the mold. And if it doesn't fit, well, just copy and paste something else in an online forum after the fact. Cause no one would bother to confirm such things, right? Excellent way to wag the dog. Very very smart.

Like I said (in the other post, next to my real name), it's one of the several stories our editors used to compile and edit our mainbar before the headline design was decided (and it's a theme that was present ALL OVER the wires Monday, just look at all the other papers that used similar question headlines).
I can't keep up with fake signatures and anonymous posts. I'm just sad there can't be a constructive conversation about how we cover breaking events on a professional message board without random, personal attacks and "rejected" ideas.

Email me and I'll give you the entire 35-inch story excerpted above (or simply go to our website where anyone can confirm the Sentinel's coverage for themself).

Again, rip our visual approach if you like. But if you're looking for a fight over journalistic integrity, Melissa Angle is way out of your league.

LOL! Melissa who?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-mshootings1707apr17,0,5340899.story?page=1

How are the top 50 picked? Is it circ size?

At the risk of being pummeled, I assert:

a) The way to cover this story in print was spin it forward. Having front pages exclusively dedicated to photos readers already saw online...it just underscores what's wrong with newspapers today.

b) (here goes) I think the headlines were a little over the top. Hear me out here. Yes, this was a tragedy; hell, I'm a reporter in Virginia so I know that quite well. But I'm disturbed on some level that we gave what ultimately is a very horrific - but very regional - tragedy the 9/11 treatment. That was over 2,000 people. This is 32 people. It's bad, but, I just am wondering if there was a little "over the top" ness going on with all the "bloodbath" headlines.

Just my thoughts. Sorry.

Billy,

Yes, it's circ size.

I like what you had to say, DW. That's my favorite part about this forum: once one can finally get past the flames (c'mon guys) there's always a great point to ponder -- like yours. I can honestly say that I had a similar thought running through my head when I was looking at the top 50.

wow. . . i am like totally impressed

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