Wednesday, October 24, 2007

News, Flash

[Media] The Salt Lake Tribune may soon have an anorexic twin. According to JournalismJobs.com, the paper is looking for help to launch a free weekday commuter tabloid called Flash early next year, in its ongoing exertions to lure someone … anyone … under 30 to pick up a daily. The Trib wants an “energetic staff” who can “understand the importance of tight, bright copy and appreciate a lighter tone and personality in news, features and sports.” Editors will be expected to “hunt down” and rewrite the news to be “commuter-friendly.” The tabloid then will be handed off to Salt Lakers as they commute to work.

Wow, this can only mean we’re gonna have newsies hawking papers at TRAX stations.

We’re gonna be a big city now, just like Washington, D.C.; Boston and Dallas. Their dailies (The Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the Dallas Morning News) also begot commuter tabloids. However, a 2005 survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) looked at their tabs and found little in the way of local news and original reporting. Indeed, 72 percent of the stories were wire copy. The most prominent subject matter: sports, business and celebrity news … the stuff of a good commute.

How “lite” can MediaNews go? (Jerre Wroble)

2 comments:

  1. How in hell are they going to staff yet another tabloid when they can barely get enough copy to keep that POS In This Week afloat as it is?

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  2. They can't hit my porch with their "real" newspaper because they say its faster and cheaper to just toss the paper somewhere in my yard. Now, they're going to hand the Tribune "lite" one out one by one? A joke, right?

    ReplyDelete

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