All Good News
We just picked up a newspaper that is a model of what a newspaper ought to be. It comes out only when there is news, and the news is always good.
It’s a nifty paper–snappily designed with lots of color, and chock-full of the elements that mark today’s successful journalism. There’s an advice column (“Dear Lotta: I won $1,000 on an instant ticket, but my agent won’t give me cash for it. What gives?”), celebrity profiles (“Merri Dee’s achievements extend far beyond pulling the numbers Monday through Friday at 6:59 p.m.”), human interest (“Sam LaPorta of Berwyn said, ‘I burned my overalls,’ when he was asked what was the first thing he did upon hearing of his $14.4 million Lotto win”), household tips (“Barbara wasn’t going to take any chances. ‘I put the ticket in a little plastic bag so it wouldn’t get dirty, and I hid the bag in my sewing box–you know, in one of those compartments that folds down out of sight’”), and even crime news (“Illegal lotteries cost the state more than $200 million in 1989 and untold amounts of money to those who played them”).
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But the future of public learning in Illinois is too crucial to be left to 19th-century methods of hustling rustics. “With any mature lottery,” said Johnston-Clark, explaining the situation facing Illinois, “it tends to get a little more difficult to impress the public and media. It used to be, a $5 million jackpot really got people excited. Now, if it’s not above $30 million, you don’t get any coverage.”
So we said to Johnston-Clark–why not finagle the lottery to tie it in directly with our tax returns, so that no one who files their taxes can avoid it?
And if you’re not the lucky winner, which you won’t be, well, schoolchildren everywhere will thank you for trying. And so will we. So will we.
So the Sun-Times won big on visual presentation. What about focus? Compare these leads:
