The plan has sliced the newsroom into opposing factions. One sees the mother of all redesigns as the best hope for the paper's future; another views it as a threat to the future of serious journalism. If Witt sticks to his six-shooter -- and many are hoping he holsters it or is disarmed -- the Monday, Aug. 16, Star-Telegram will be published without a single front-page news story. If a killer quake slides the West Coast into the Pacific, if Osama bin Laden is pulled from a spider hole, or if the heavens open up and the true believers ascend, you'll read the story somewhere inside the bowels of your daily newspaper. (Assuming, of course, that the Rapture leaves any sinners behind to put out the paper.) Instead of the stories that normally appear out front, Witt's memo said, there will be a Whitman's Sampler of "reefers, teases, and summaries'' -- that's journalese for writing that ranges from a few words to a few sentences -- designed to lure readers inside the box. Promos, in other words. Advertisements for themselves. Maybe the Star-Telegram's head ed has been watching too many beer commercials. Tastes great? Less filling, for sure. Maybe he's copping Fort Worth Weekly's front page, which, magazine-style, plugs the articles and reviews inside. Or did the second-hand smoke from all those reefers -- more journalese for a line that refers readers from one page to another -- get to him? While Witt's plan to ban front-page news stories now applies to Mondays only, papers published the rest of the week will have dramatically shorter articles not only on the front page but on the section covers as well. The Sunday front page -- traditionally the launching pad for in-depth take-outs and stellar writing that show off a newspaper's best work -- will likely display just a single story of any heft that jumps inside. The rest of the cover, as on Mondays, will be "devoted to telling readers about all the great stuff inside the paper... ." The concept of a daily front page virtually void of news stories may be, as Witt says, radical. But it's driven by numbers. The Star-Telegram, like other daily papers, is struggling to maintain its readers. According to AdAge.com, some 2,500 daily readers have left in the last three years, leaving the paper with circulation of about 233,000. Increasingly, daily news junkies are getting their fix from broadcasters, cable, and the internet. Witt opened his memo to staffers by stating the obvious: "It's no secret that we have to continue to improve the Star-Telegram if we're going to keep the readers we have and hopefully gain new ones'' Improve? Not everyone thinks so. According to a handful of staffers, some at the paper are talking about how Witt's plan will "ruin'' the newspaper and trivialize their work. "Basically, the paper is run by a man who doesn't like to read the paper,'' said one editorial employee who, like others quoted here, asked not to be named. "It's taking the Entertainment Tonight approach of not having stuff you can really delve into," said one area media pro who has read the Star-Telegram for more than 30 years. The idea is to "get in there quickly, give you some sexy shots, and get out. ... It's not news reporting. It's entertainment.''
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Ethics Dilemma: Can the Dead Vote?
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From the Week of July 21
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The Dems put together a posh Star Wars cantina, when they really needed Norma Rae. By Dan McGraw
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