2008 Woodie Awards
Column: Putting the pizzazz back in the paper
Anne Baker
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: The Inside
Newspapers, with their sticky newsprint and classy typeface, tend to illicit a heavy sigh from the kids of the iGeneration. Too preoccupied to look up from our cell phones, PDAs or gleaming white laptops, we often forgo newspapers to get the day's news from Matt Drudge or Perez Hilton (I've already addressed how I feel about the latter).
But established newspapers have noticed that a five-column headline screaming, "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" doesn't do much to get our attention these days. We like things of the flashier variety. We like pizzazz and sparkle. And no newspaper has noticed and taken advantage of our need for "flashy" more than the New York Times.
Anyone who has glanced at The Times is well aware that the paper doesn't often go for the superficial. It doesn't have all that boring-looking text on its page for nothing; in the upmost corner of every print edition, you'll find the words, "All the news that's fit to print," and the Times means it. It's a serious newspaper for serious people.
That's fine and dandy, but the online edition will show anyone who treads on the fluffier side of life a whole other world of the New York Times.
NYTimes.com has everything you could ever hope for. Sassy videos? Check. Interactive Internet-only fashion magazine? Check. Lots of really, really big pictures? Check!
It has it all. Want a healthy dose of easy cooking without the grating voice that emanates from Rachel Ray? Check out the videos of the Times' food columnist Mark Bittman, also known as The Minimalist. Bittman puts the 30 Minute Meals star to shame with easy entrees that focus on using only a few ingredients to pack a powerful punch of flavor - all in videos that last less than five minutes. Yum-o.
For those with a more sports-oriented sensibility, NYTimes.com offers blogs and special features where the paper's sports critics lay out their picks for the NCAA championships. This year there were tables where you could compare your bracket with that of The Times writers and the developments of the series.
But established newspapers have noticed that a five-column headline screaming, "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" doesn't do much to get our attention these days. We like things of the flashier variety. We like pizzazz and sparkle. And no newspaper has noticed and taken advantage of our need for "flashy" more than the New York Times.
Anyone who has glanced at The Times is well aware that the paper doesn't often go for the superficial. It doesn't have all that boring-looking text on its page for nothing; in the upmost corner of every print edition, you'll find the words, "All the news that's fit to print," and the Times means it. It's a serious newspaper for serious people.
That's fine and dandy, but the online edition will show anyone who treads on the fluffier side of life a whole other world of the New York Times.
NYTimes.com has everything you could ever hope for. Sassy videos? Check. Interactive Internet-only fashion magazine? Check. Lots of really, really big pictures? Check!
It has it all. Want a healthy dose of easy cooking without the grating voice that emanates from Rachel Ray? Check out the videos of the Times' food columnist Mark Bittman, also known as The Minimalist. Bittman puts the 30 Minute Meals star to shame with easy entrees that focus on using only a few ingredients to pack a powerful punch of flavor - all in videos that last less than five minutes. Yum-o.
For those with a more sports-oriented sensibility, NYTimes.com offers blogs and special features where the paper's sports critics lay out their picks for the NCAA championships. This year there were tables where you could compare your bracket with that of The Times writers and the developments of the series.
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