SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Chicago Tribune redesigned to not be taken seriously

Joined: Feb 24 2006 Posts: 2578

Zounds. They've turned the Chicago Tribune into a cheesy magazine.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-tribune-redesign-htmlpage,0,7090729.htmlpage

I'm a little concerned with this new approach, but does anyone else's newspaper look like that? If so, is it any good? To me, it smacks of dumbing down. "Hey look, pretty pictures!"

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

DarkMaze wrote:

To me, it smacks of dumbing down. "Hey look, pretty pictures!"

I like it for the front pages, but eventually I want the meat of the paper to have some substance.

Posted: Sep 23 2008 05:33 pm

DarkMaze wrote:

To me, it smacks of dumbing down. "Hey look, pretty pictures!"

That's what you have to do nowadays. Kids these days don't read the paper. Or even internet news sites unless it is flashy and they might see some side-boob (or it talks about video games).

Newspapers have to deal with that. And since 3/4 of the males in my family work in newspapers, I can safely say that this trend is growing. My local paper has changed. It doesn't look quite like that, but the Monday edition is no longer a normal newspaper but a magazine-like newspaper. With extra gossip and no global news (or bad news) on the front page. "Because that is what the housewife and others who read the Monday paper like."

And the editions sold like hotcakes.

To reiterate: People are stupid and illiterate and hate everything that is not themselves unless it involves sex and/or celebrities.

Posted: Sep 23 2008 05:44 pm

This is not a good trend; Many people are ignorant of important news as it is, myself included.

Posted: Sep 23 2008 05:45 pm

I've seen the same thing happen to a number of newspapers here and I'm not a fan of it. Sure it looks nice, but only rarely does it add significant informational value. Mostly it eats up space. Like Lottel says, the newspapers usually justify these changes with the increased competition from online media and that they have to make their product more attractive to younger readers. I read a lot of news online and I'm subscribed to way too many blogs. But for me the last thing I want from my newspaper is to emulate the brevity and news-ticker style of online media. The long in-depth articles and opinion pieces of newspapers are exactly the reason why I read them in the first place. If the trend continues I can definitely see my interest in newspapers fading to the point that I don't buy them any more.

Posted: Sep 23 2008 06:09 pm

DarkMaze wrote:

To me, it smacks of dumbing down. "Hey look, pretty pictures!"

Well, what would grab your attention faster, A Newspaper cover that says "Rambo riding a giant dragonfly while fighting a laser shooting Gibson SG and Toht in the background, or a cover like this:

?

Posted: Sep 23 2008 06:09 pm

As long as it still has content, I don't see a problem with it. It probably made some very bored Desktop Publishers at the newspapers happy, that they actually have something interesting to do. Hell, may have even created some jobs seeing as how newspapers have such a quick turnaround.

Posted: Sep 23 2008 10:51 pm

In the modern world, humans have an attention span of .5 HEY LOOK A TREE!!!