What makes this page a BFD: A dignified treatment of a tragedy.
Barbaro was all over America's front pages this morning. He was seen peeking over the nameplate of The Sentinel Record. He had the biggest head on the The Frederick News-Post (literally). The Sun took the opposite approach – bigger people, smaller horse. The Cecil Whig focused on the words rather than the images, using an interesting big-words lead-in. Both Philly papers blew out the story, with the Philadelphia Daily News one-upping the Inquirer in design and sentiment.
The Morning Call went ga-ga over Microsoft Vista. Link did the same, but with more impact and less information. The Oklahoman bested the Tulsa World for cropping of their new Miss America's photo. The Star-Telegram had today's most compelling news feature photo.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had today's best front design with a chilling news photo.
The image shows the hole left by a car that rammed a school cafeteria, killing one student. The principal is seen walking through the hole. The red overline provides the facts; the headline speaks to the emotion. The package includes stories about the driver and the victim, each labeled using a parallel construction.
The rest of the page is appropriately subdued out of respect for the tragedy. No one wants to report a story like this, but when we must, we should always do it with dignity, as the Post-Dispatch did today.
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